and the roses never wilted, they just transformed into flowers never seen before for a while it looked like they were dying as they slowly turned gray and then black but then they bloomed into something different, a unique kind of beautiful
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 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
Lukewarm response as I suggest coming to see you and my gut tells me something is amiss telling me you miss me but dodge an opportunity to see me Canβt say why or make plans to see me and I change my relationship status to single confused, frustrated not understanding how I got here almost begging another man for crumbs of affection for the bare minimum
the gaslighting, the love bombing, the disappearing werenβt the worst of your crimes but together they added up to a mountain of trauma It was the mt.everest of traumatic experiences constantly making me wonder about the karmic debt I was paying making me wonder why I kept you in my life allowed you to take up space in my mind and poems sometimes I think I kept you solely for the fountain of inspiration you drew out of me
Iβm an expert at navigating the gray and vague trying to romanticize and make fires out of the smallest of sparks deluding myself into thinking if I stick around long enough Heβll realize Iβm the one
I long to run free in a world free from prejudice and pride I long to run free in a world free from judgment and ignorance I long to run free in a world that accepts people like me I long to run free in a world where Iβm not hypervigilant about toning myself down
karma bit me and now Iβm paying for all of my emotional crimes now Iβm met with silence and indifference and I go and examine what was the final straw which post led you over the ledge from friendship to being acquaintances once again
I wrote this in 2019 when I was reflecting about the way men have often objectified in a way thatthey almost always seem to just want the fun and sexy part of me but seem to often have problems seeing the rest of me. I’ve almost always felt like I’ve been good enough to be their lover but never good enough to be introduced to their mother. Do I still feel this way? I honestly don’t know. I like the attention and validation I get from men because of my looks but sometimes it feels so hollow. **This poem went through heavy edits in June of 2026.
Often men want this girl…the ones that’s always down for a “good” timeBUT run away from this one….the other girl …the vulnerable one that has a realness hard to accept
Tell me Iβm beautiful, tell me Iβm sexy Objectify me, sleep with me breadcrumb me, ghost me, then try to come back to me And when I deny you insult me, threaten me,try your best to hurt me- Your words mean nothing to me Youβre not the first but will be the last who tries to destroy me Youβre not the first but will be the last who treats me like your on call whore Youβre not the first but will be the last who tells me Iβm not good enough and after all that, try to come back again and Tell me you miss, tell me you want me Tell me youβre sorry, tell me you LOVE ME Be persistent in your quest in trying to bed me with empty promises about how this time it will be different and how we have history so I can laugh and laugh and turn you down and watch you sulk honey, I know you watch me on social media so you should know better than to ever come back to me
I wrote this in September of 2019 after I read somewhere about some politician making fun of AOC for doing the “Latina Thing”. It annoyed the fuck out of me.
Edit: I revised this poem heavily in 2025 when I performed it in open mic. Here’s a link to that performance
what I think of the haters
make fun of our accents,make fun of our names- call us feisty, caliente, spicy. too loud, too sexy try to bully us into silence try to put us down with racist and ignorant insults try to stereotype us- try to make us feel less than try to kill us- but understand that we’re here to stay, and weβre not letting anyone get in our way donβt you know that weβre descendents of Mayan, Aztec, and Incan Kings and Queens and survival and resilience is embedded in our DNA y estamos aquΓ para quedarnos para siempre
he came for my people followed the rhetoric of our hate fueled president men, women, children killed in cold blood because they were the wrong race, the wrong color spoke the wrong language he came for βUSβ the so-called invaders him at just 21 years old filled with hatred from head to toe brainwashed by white supremacy twenty two lives taken as a consequence of a monstrous ideology twenty two families who will forever grieve and mourn the neverending sorrow loss of their loved ones taken too soon twenty two families with an infinity of questions and no real answers and as usual the useless thoughts and prayers come, and the law makers are the worst, making empty promises to fight this American epidemic but after a few days, they will forget like everyone else itβs no longer a question of why this happened ttβs become a question of when will be the next time
My jealousy is green and monstrous- Its big and dramatic Itβs almost epic and iβm like dammit I wish I wasnβt like this but maybe itβs time to accept it itβs not that Iβm toxic Or that something is wrong with me I just need a lover who only has eyes for me, who doesnβt think about other options when heβs with me whoβs so obsessed with me, Iβm like the air he needs to breathe in order to live
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
I breathe grief in, I exhale grief out my pain needs a way out because despair and sorrow fill up my lungs and anger sits at the bottom of my stomach and Iβm tired of living like this a life full of emotional intensity And supposedly thereβs a cure for it with therapy and radical acceptance but how do I accept that every man whoβs ever professed his love to me always leaves Will my romantic misfortune one day end? or am I destined to repeat the same story of abandonment over and over again?
Letβs go to war with ourselves and speak our truth and heal unprocessed trauma within and face our fear and insecurities weβll walk out with confidence and feel empowered Weβll leave with versions of ourselves ready to reach our full potential and ready to love