This deceptively simple poem provides a dramatic demonstration of the power of caregiver’s language to subordinate clients. The interviewer is conveyed as an interrogator who is more interested in completing an intake form than in the client’s personal needs, cultural identity, or experience. The list of English words, spoken starkly as unstoppable, insistent imperatives, overpowers Pedro’s attempts to communicate a depth of cultural values and relationships.

Clearly, the poem has relevance for sensitizing health practitioners to the complexity of communication across language and culture. But its interpretation is not limited to Chicano-Anglo communication. As a metaphor for communication in health care, the poem reminds readers that the specialized, bureaucratic and scientific vocabulary of health care can be distancing and demeaning when talking with patients.