trigger warning for a mention of r*pe
Read MoreShe tells me that it is good I see them too/ The visions originate from/ The magic engraved in our bones/ The superstition written by our ancestors long ago
Read MoreWhen others begin to rise,/ forging their own paths/ until the concrete shatters,/ it’s a revolution.
Read MoreNobody holds hands here anymore and I’ve forgotten what I look like. Help me remember.
Read MoreWomen of my face are members of a sorority we never asked to join./ We don’t recruit./ Our membership dues/ are the futures we mourn.
Read MoreI’m not sure exactly when the surprise of how long summer tan can remain stuck to my skin turned into a hatred of myself.
Read Moremy motha tongue/ aint no motha,/ in fact i dont even think she/ like kids
Read MoreMy ideas have done that for a while now: fade into background noise. The background, I’ve noticed, is always white.
Read MoreYes, I’ve thought of you, I’ve/ thought of you the way a pianist thinks/ of a lost hand.
Read MoreI am perfectly ok with/ screaming from a rooftop:
Read MoreRed saree, gold ornaments, locked lips
Read MoreI look for open arms to fall into/ But settle for the ancient warmth of mud
Read Morehis back still bends/ like he’s hunched over/ a lawnmower/ though he stopped/ years ago/ working on that northern grass/
Read MoreI like to hear the way my father speaks/ Nah and baby/ That’s the nuyorican seeped so deeply into his speech.
Read MoreThe world had marked us,/ defined/ us,/ only to leave us in the dark.
Read MoreI can recall all of the times/ I have not been called by my own.
Read MoreLook down my throat/ you will see/ the space that lives between stars
Read MoreI am the corn Sapoi placed into the ground, that would feed a million generations/I am life
Read Morebut seeing them sealed away/ a specimen/ made me burn with the relief/that it was them/ and not me—/not me lying on a sterile sheet of paper
Read More