canβt blend in with this privileged world wrong age, wrong last name, wrong ethnicity I stand destined for failure on this institutions steps as the pressure to succeeds hang around me like a noose around my neck and yet I still keep going and show up every day if only to teach my kids a lesson in how to keep going when you want to quit
for almost three years Iβve been waiting for the next guy to appear as some kind of hero, as some kind of reward for all of my effort Iβve put into myself and the life Iβve built Subconsciously I did this Even as I publicly roared about being empowered on my own I still wanted someone to be my sanctuary to lay my love in And I wrote, manifested, schemed, flirted got obsessed with men were just meant to be friends Thinking, gosh, if I hang on long enough, heβll come around this might work out but today I discovered the only hero for me is the woman in the mirror who still manages to get out of bed even on the bad days when sheβs too tired to function when sheβs exhausted by all of it
clavos sobre el ataΓΊd del futuro que querΓa ni un prΓncipe azul ni una casita propia y bonita en vez mirΓ³ fijamente al caΓ±Γ³n de la pobreza tratando de buscar algo brillo de lo que alguna fui entre mis mucho sueΓ±os olvidados
nail on the coffin on the future I wanted no prince charming no house with the white picket fence instead I stare down at the barrel of poverty trying to find a glimmer of who I used to be among my many forgotten dreams
last time I had my last first kiss it was wasted on a middle age scorpio I wore a cute summer dress with red lipstick along with my feminine charm I didnβt have to lay it on thick for him to desire me for him to want to kiss me he wouldβve fuck me I hadnβt been on my period his hands roamed almost every inch of my body as if it belong to him for the 5 minutes we made out while I dissociated and pretended I was somewhere else I was numb and devoid of feeling anything Am I even a person? He said things about how I was so hot and sexy and how sad it was that couldnβt screw me And I laughed flirtatiously following the script Iβve had since I could remember and I felt no desire or any pleasure if anything I was repulsed by him, by myself hating how even at 40, I was still pulling the same bullshit since I was 16 making myself an object of desire for me to play with and then something snapped in me that day a couple of hours after that date I sent him a snap along with all the other 7 dudes I was entertaining and keeping as options the same message, βIβm sorry, Iβm not in a place to date or even to have men as friends, I wish you the bestβ it was hard as I had always been addicted to menβs attention and validation but something told me it was time to switch the narrative even though I knew it would be lonely
I hate it when I catch myself being unintentionally sweet It makes me feel vulnerable and weak Itβs almost as if my armor of empowered Queen is breaking and I canβt allow that to happen Iβve come too far in my heroineβs journey to allow romantic daydreams to disrupt it And Iβm tempted to erase his messages And block him Itβs not his fault or mine Itβs the faulty wiring in my brain it causes the logic in me to short circuit every time I talk to him
you were a dead end street that I didnβt see until it unraveled me Until it was too late and I didnβt want to turn around and kept going and eventually I crashed in the most magnificent and catastrophic of ways and I burned and burned until I was ashes and rose up in the most spectacular rebirth anyone had witnessed since Jesus
being with you was a form of self harm it was another symptom of my mental illness It was me living with my unhealed alcoholic daddy issues it was the worst version of me trying to find some kind of semblance of love to fill the void with whatever, even if that love looked toxic, brought out the worst in me, berated and assaulted me still stupidly I went back to you and accepted you in my life over and over again even with delusional daydreams in the back of my mind that if I kept you in my life long enough eventually youβd change and one day weβd get it right but all you ever did was disappoint me over and over again but this last undoing of us is the one and good riddance for that because at 43, iβm too fucking old to waste my time on fuck bois who canβt show an ounce of respect and dignity
my morality goes out the window when the madness appears itβs always a combo of impulsivity and hypersexuality longing for connection, longing for intimacy Longing to feel something other than the emptiness that lies within Itβs a temporary fix as I run away from my self made prison of stability
I pay tribute to the women who came before me women who sacrificed so my parents could exist my mami who had to leave behind her culture, traditions, and language to give me a better life to make sure I grow up safe and well educated and taught me what strength and resilience means as she worked long days to make ends meet as she showed initiative to move our family forward and with her example I was able to follow it except I change it up some to live a life full of love, community and creativity
at 17, the pregnant bride to be got a telegram from her groom sorry, but Iβm betrothed to another and am getting married at gun point maybe it was the heavy feeling of rage or her aries nature and hormones the jilted bride with a silent fury went to her closet and took out her ostentatiously beaded wedding dress and with matches in her hand she went outside and set fire to it in front of the family home one of the younger siblings saw the insanity as the bride stared at it mesmerized by fire that grew and grew she walked towards it all sense of reality gone from her not hearing the screams from her abuela who ran towards her and just before the bride step foot in the fire la abuela shook her and slapped her across the face until the bride reacted, let out a loud wail heard across the farmland and fainted
wonder how it happened- the transaction between beatrizβ papi and luis did beatriz have any say in her future betrothal did she have dreams as a little girl about her future husband did she even love Luis or just tolerate him because itβs what was expected of her how did it happen did she wish for a different life for her daughters one where they loved their husbands one where they were treated like humans and not treated like cattle
I scream watching the dominoes fall once again I donβt know who I am I want to be this version of myself a while longer ideally forever but the universe has other plans she laughs and says βHoney, he wasnβt the oneβ and Iβm pissed and lose my shit go crazy for weeks, that turn into months that turn into a year until 13 months later mama killa comes to me revealing the last piece I needed to form a stable identity and sends me back to my homeland where I recover hidden bits of myself and laugh like a child once again where Iβm reunited with the mountains, coast, and the city where the universe tells me βI told you so, you couldnβt have done this with him by your side dimming your light, you needed to be alone to embrace your magic And find your real identity under layers of american conditioning and reconnect with your homeland, it was the most important part in your heroineβs journey to integration
lately I take the biggest bites out of life and flaunt it in front of everyone for too long I suppressed my hunger for experience, for adventure thought I was crazy for trying to explore my curious nature So instead I took small bites here and there thinking it be enough but it wasnβt who I was a little bird taking nips naw Iβm a condor reading to pounce and satiate my hunger my big ass appetite ready to be satisfied with the unpleasant and pleasurable things in life
forgotten dreams remembered in a bout of depression I wanted to be much more than this an overwhelmed mom of two trying her best but still failing an chaotic mess who doesnβt know who she is underneath the burdens and expectations placed on her