Remember when the census bureau called while you were away in New York and they asked what race you were?

********Yes. M said it was complicated.

Would you care to elaborate, please?

********M said it was complicated but they still persisted in asking what race I was.

Do you remember what she said? M told them you had a Spanish-sounding last name but that you weren’t Hispanic. M told them that you looked Asian but that you didn’t consider yourself Asian. M said that you acted white but that you weren’t white.

********Wait. I don’t act white. What does that even mean?

Anyway, M asked if they could put you down as OTHER. They refused to accept that as an answer. Remember what they finally agreed on?

********Race: CANADIAN

***

Greg Santos is the author of Blackbirds (Eyewear, 2018), Rabbit Punch! (DC Books, 2014) and The Emperor’s Sofa (DC Books, 2010). He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School. He regularly works with at-risk communities and teaches at Montreal’s Thomas More Institute. He is the poetry editor of carte blanche.