i used to ask my father, who spoke better than I do, what my Spanish sounded like and he would say it did not like a particular place, it just sounded real, such that it must be from a place, so that place must exist.
This is why people always ask me, what is the place? Because I just can’t place you.
So I’ve ended up just saying it’s the “patria grande” of Bolívar, or the “greater Mexico” of A. Paredes, or the “sweet homeland” of López Velarde, “mutilated territory / dressed in percale and cheap jewelry / a house still so spacious / that the train running through it / looks like a Christmas toy.”
Suave patria, is the poem. Everyone’s Spanish is so rough, everyone is so conflicted about their Spanish, but it’s always about where is your home, and how far they are from their home. Whereas in French it is about, have you met the official standard?
coldhearted scientist وداد 