Iβm not for the tender and meek and because of that I might end up lonely for the rest of my life and before, it used to bother me but lately I donβt care Iβd rather be alone facing the world and my fears without anyone whoβll judge me or give me his unsolicited opinion on my life I finally hold the reins of my autonomy and Iβm not giving that up for anybody
if we start this again Boundaries need to be put in place respect me and we can make this work letβs keep it casual and leave our feelings out of it Iβm not looking for anything serious every time Iβve tried long term love Iβve crashed and burned so letβs give this a go with purely sexual energy there is no space, energy or time for anything else letβs keep things easy and light devour me, fuck me like a whore take charge in the bedroom but not anywhere else I finally belong to myself and Iβm not changing that anytime soon
this time Iβll give myself permission to let my body explore pleasure with someone else telling myself, βThis time Iβm keeping it casual, itβs nothing serious, itβs not a big dealβ Iβm just ready to once again share my sexual magic write erotic poems about a human and not my vibrator itβs time to break my vow of celibacy and let someone in on my sexual energy
the river of my love for you dried and at first I cried but then it felt like freedom, it felt like happiness to no longer obsess over someone who treated me like shit to feel nothing for someone who caused me a world of pain over and over again Does this mean I finally learned my worth?
I give you a yard, and you give me an inch- itβs a game of back and forth nonsense one where I respect your unspoken boundaries and need for space until one day the push back from you pulled back into a dark place I havenβt been in a while a place where my confidence breaks, a place where I start to question my worth a place when my sense of self breaks once again and I know right there, and then, itβs better to give up whatever this was Iβve outgrown men who send me mixed signals
in the juxtaposition of the karens and working class I find sympathy for both itβs hard to explain this in between- itβs an exhausting struggle of understanding the complexities of the human condition of wanting to be seen of wanted to be heard and respected and I stared in horror, almost breathless as the karens and the working class exchange verbal hostile fire and almost throw hands at each other as one threatens the otherβs livelihood and the other stood their ground and I – was just a witness to the epidemic of anger in America
maybe it was the outfit that made my uber driver nervous
I couldn’t tell if you were nervous or just an asshole trying to impress me with your knowledge of shakespeare that came off as mansplaning which was so cringe and annoying since I told you I have a degree in English and I had taken two Shakespeare classes maybe you didnβt take me seriously because of how short my dress was or my thigh-high boots caught you off guard is it some sort of abomination for me to be smart and smoking hot that men treat me like Iβm a bimbo they need to save or mansplain shit to maybe I should start using it to my advantage play the role of βpretty womanβ observe how much men underestimate me and write poetry about it and make it blog content a year later
I longed and longed and longed to feel whole until I planted my feet on the soil I was born on until I breathed the air my parents and ancestors inhaled until I tasted flavors from almost a lifetime ago I longed and longed and longed to feel whole until I returned to my homeland and it was the piece of the puzzle found I needed to finally complete me
look at that Goddess, very awkward, very full of herself
gratitude taste like mamiβs sopa de pollo gratitude smells like my loverβs cologne gratitude feels like a warm hug from my son gratitude sounds like my sisterβs car in my driveway gratitude looks like me looking at the Goddess in the mirror
I wrote this poem in September of 2019 and 5 years later, I’m posting it on my 1 year divorce anniversary so this poem is extra special to me.
for real, for real
It seems that my freedom is a long time away it is almost hopeless to get away from my prison of obligations and responsibilities I yearn to escape! I love my kids but Iβve stopped loving their dad the space between us became too wide a long time ago and we can never go back to who we were, who we wanted to be So now I long to be free of these marital chains that once upon a time I longed for As hopeless and as hard as it seems Iβm determined to be free from my suburban confinement
Iβm looking forward to that pisco sour Iβll have after the judge declares me divorced and free to remarry -ha- thatβs the biggest joke ever maybe Iβll land in someoneβs bed once again But a ring on my finger -NEVER!- not in this lifetime, not as long as I breathe instead Iβll claim my single status And relish in it as long as I can
I’m armed with my notebooks and journals full of poems and stories
what cannot be said aloud will be written in a poem for better or worse I have a tendency to process my emotions in metaphors and verse and while many wouldnβt call what I write poetry because I lack technique or an MFA or whatever else I’m missing Iβm going to keep writing my raw emotions Down and sharing them My words hold value, My words have power And it has helped and a few other souls when our feelings lack logical explanations and reasons For better or worse Iβm going to continue to tell my story in poetry
the shelf of my bookcase breaks, and my poetry notebooks fall every single one of my love stories scattered on the floor Failure after failure Were any of them worth the effort? Was the experience worth the suffering? Maybe it was for the inspiration behind my prose and poetry and the growth Iβve had Still, that doesnβt seem like an adequate answer
In humility I ask mama Killa for guidance To send me a sign of some kind as I start to unravel and lose myself in my anxiety and insecurities As I start to question if Iβm on the right path and throw myself a pity party and cry because no one is coming to save me And how despite all the empowerment I feel with my autonomy I still miss being in a relationship and cover myself up in defeat Thinking Iβll always be this lonely But mama Killa sends me a reminder of the love of sisterhood in my dreams to remind me Iβm on the right path Mama Killa, in her own way, reassures me that staying true to myself and continuing what sometimes feels like a challenging and cringy journey of self-discovery Is the right thing for me to do in order to heal, to grow, to evolve and to remember everything will fall into place as long as I keep going and never give up