Asiento de Leche By Daniel Gerling “You can either sit in the milk, or you can sit in the milk,” my 3-yr-old son told my best friend when he visited. Yes, my son made the puddle of milk on the bench, but this was his house. And all visitors must be tested. When he was learning how to speak, he would hold up an object and prompt them to name it to see which language they spoke. “Ball. Good!” “Carro, sí, muchacho.” And so he placed visitors into categories depending on their answer. And their answer determined how he needed to adjust, how he needed to communicate with them. But tonight, the show is his. And he dictates the options. So there’s a puddle of milk, and you need a place to sit, Frank. What will it be? The milk? Or the milk?
Author Bio: Daniel is an English prof at Augustana University who divides his research between the composition studies and the cultural history excrement. He loves Yeats, Bukowski, Dickinson, Heaney, Muriel Rukeyser, Nicolas Guillén, and Joe Weil. He grew up in the corn fields of Illinois and is a little lactose intolerant.
