American Sonnet for Spanish Aunts

Aunts sewed  their lives bare.
Their needle, thread 
made rich dresses
they dare not wear,
ironed straight all the creases  
of great rich white silky minds.
The Gringos wore their handiwork without praise. 
Aunts dreamed their small dreams in
Spanglish, Castilian, Rioplatense,
the unknown languages of hope.
They prayed and chanted as 
they cut, sewed and ironed.
To watch them slave away is to
know discipline and order and 
america