mami didnβt know the door she opened when she gave me Becquer”s Rhyme XXX thought I would just take solace in the spanish poets words about heartbreak and move on mami had no idea how that poem was a gateway to inspiration for me to write my first poem at 15 and keep writing them 30 years later
Faith found me one day and told me to keep going when I didnβt want to Faith made me believe in GOD when I wanted to fall into the abyss of depression Faith held me as I cried endless tears of my about my latest life’s catastrophe Faith loved me when I couldnβt love myself Faith brought me people who believed in me When I couldnβt believe in myself Faith decided to one day bring itβs accomplice HOPE
I blame my ADD, Mami and hypersensitivity for my poetic tendencies I never had the attention span or time to learn to play an instrument or paint instead at 15, I learned to write poems out of the shards in my heart left from a breakup after reading Becquer, and ever since then Itβs been an ongoing love affair with poetry one that is a refuge from the outside world, one that has been therapeutic when I felt the sky fall on me many times and while on most days I still suffer from imposter syndrome and donβt consider myself a real poet I donβt and wonβt ever let that deter me from processing the wonderful, terrible, and crazy things in my life through poetry
Hope lies in the next minute, the next hour, the next day,the next week Hope makes us believe there is something to look forward to even in our darkest hour Hope gives us the strength to continue on when we donβt want to
tower records at 14, the beginning of my double life the one where I went strange boys and smoked cigarette with them the beginning of a mental illness I wouldnβt get diagnosed with almost 30 years later
My heart blooms like a flower in the spring taking in the beauty of everything Iβm no longer so angry and feel a freedom to just be I take things in stride and no longer feel the need to fight Is this what healing looks like?
the nuns and mami started into obedience and I reverted into a world of silence And everyone praised mami about what a good little girl I was and no one thought much about this until my parents demanded answers for the rebellious streak in my teens couldnβt understand the numerous absences, the subpar performance in school, why I sulked in my bedroom for hours on ended, the disrespect from my mouth as I stood up for myself, they wondered where their sweet and quiet princess went all the while they should have looked back 6 or 7 years ago when they indoctrinated me to hold it all in or else they wouldnβt love me should have known one day Iβd rebel and explode as I was finding my spirit, my voice once again after it had been buried under layers of good behavior
I am a witch and sometimes a bitch if youβre lucky Youβll see the sweet side of me where I’m your real life magical wet dream come true If youβre unlucky, youβll meet the BPD me the worst bitch youβll regret meeting in your entire life because if you treat me badly, Iβll make sure youβre laugh at when I read a poem about you at open mic
abuela, today is your 94th birthday and I still look for you in mine and papiβs face I still wonder how your story would have turned out if you hadnβt been taken away from us at age 50 I still wonder if your spirit was with me and my son on that magical day 2 years ago I still weave parts of your story into mine since our paths were so alike and today I wonder if along your goddess cleavage, I also inherited your fiery spirit and generosity I wonder if right now youβre looking down on me confused with the life I lead or accepting and understanding I was made different from the women in my family
If failure was a task I would be the poster girl for it I’m a failure at love, I’m a failure at life, I am a failure at Being Human but all of these are thoughts of the past me the new me doesn’t see herself as a failure or that she has ever failed at life she sees failure as a stepping stone and learning curve the new me sees herself as a winner of life and not the loser of 1 because she never gave up or didn’t give in or because she’s a resilient queen
short gray hair, steely blue eyes, red nose, transparent white skin stern hands with a wooden rules in them always ready to correct an unruly and wild child who talked too much, who wiggled in line or at their desk, who walked a thin line between angel and mortal her presence intimidated me and scared me to tears and a Godly fear of disappointing her quickly set in me at age 6 and quickly I learned how to swim found that the key to never feel her wrath was silence and unconditional obedience by blending in with the walls, with my desk, only speak when spoken to, ask permission for everything even to breathe, become a good little soldier of the Lord forget Spanish and leave my immigrant identity at home itβs how I survived 5 years of religious indoctrination itβs how I became an american
When I open my eyes,I whine and grunt Another day where I whine,whine, whine Working to live? Or living to work? I canβt remember which is better Living is really just guesswork Maybe today I wonβt feel so much anger Perhaps I should find hope in this new day Instead of living in doom and gloom Maybe the darkness will stay away Or Iβll cry at work in the bathroom again
Iβve been called an exclamation mark before But I feel more like a question mark Because I always ask questions like: Why am I like this? How do I get rid of anxious thoughts? Where does my heart really reside? What is best for me? Who will love me?
I manifest a new boyfriend he’s a poem in the making heβs someone Iβll meet unexpectedly Heβll come when the marigolds sprout and spring is here Heβll be brave enough to try me on after I trauma dump heβll be my new spring waiting to bloom with me
a lot of us search for someone or something to complete us or make us feel like we are enough weβve been brainwashed by societyβs conditioning that weβre incomplete without a lover or without our career goals satisfied and this is really toxic and false narrative we need to stop believing in we should look instead for the amazing in the ordinary and appreciate how itβs a gift to just be human and exist