The Poetry Marathon

A tattooed body lies next to me.
Breathing in silhouettes, we smile.
We trace each other’s stories.
We highlight bravery,
we honor sadness,
uplift and smile.
Our novels
Are not
Done.

Summer days on the block
Are meant for
Sundresses,
Smart mouths,
Nutcrackers &
Smiles.

High noon heat
Has the music blasting Papi’s anthem
while playing dominos
sweating as much as my bottled drink
It is home.
Can you feel it?

Street veins burst with water
For the whole neighborhood to play in.
Me & my homegirls
Ready for trouble.
There’s nothing
our attitudes can’t handle.
“Don’t come for us, if we don’t send for you”
It is power.

Especially if you have the nerve
To step to us with two left feet
asking for a dance to Bachata.
Our stares will roast you
quicker than Island sun.
But the laughter & love in it
Works as revival.
This little block be church for us.
Sunday service.
Each day, el dia de Dios.
Es la Verdad.

What makes a family?

What makes blood thicker than water?

Who decides this?

Why are Sundays so significant?

Why can’t all days be chosen?

Where is home?

How does one know it’s true?

Where do Matriarchs sit at the table?

Is there space for a Patriarch’s weight?

Can the two coexist?

Can a new generational legacy be sustained?

Under different stars
You could be it.
We could be that.
It would be lit.

Under different stars
There could be one
And our one could make two.
She’d be the Sun.

Under different stars
We’d dance two steps
Count kisses by three’s
No need for prep.

Under different stars
the world could stand by
we could be destined
A new forever, you and I.

Sit with it a while.
Not many people make honest attempts in doing so.
Talk in it without expectation.
Hold and be an open space.
Move in it.
Trust that it is on your side,
the same way you need someone else to be.
You’d be surprised how easy it becomes to walk in conviction.
Let it teach you,
Most things of value in life can be learned and understood without sight.

You don’t know this me.
New voice, fresh eyes, filled with love,
held in Holy things.

The clouds go gray
And the grass, the trees, the birds
All begin to dance.
The wind gives tempo to their excitedness.

It’s funny how all things openly crave cleansing;
except people.

You are not a promising young woman.
You are…
An intended, eternal entity.
A boundless body.
A sought after energy.
Queen in your last life’s journey,
Goddess, currently.
Do not let undeserving hands rest for free.

You are an immutable force.
Trauma is something amongst the waves.
Let it wash over you, but do not let it stay.
You are here for more than adding tears
to glass globes of misogyny pioneers.

Stand tall.
Chest out.
You are the Survivor.
You are the Chosen.
You are the Moon to which all things howl.
You can be belittled by none;
Smile.
&
Know.
There are no weapons used against you,
from which you have not already won.

May your smile never be forsaken.
May you never know fear in raising children.
May you never be stripped of identity
May you always know dignity.
May you feel pride in your name
And your culture mirrored in media with positivity.
May you live in a land that accepts your difference as delightful instead of dismay.
May your men know honor, worth, and appreciation.
May your women know love purely, intentionally, and unashamed.
May your people be respected in every facet of their being.
May your children never be a threat to your neighbor’s gatekeeping.

May you always feel home, wherever your family is.
May your family never be broken for fun or for profit.
May your legacy never be riddled with trauma, scars and hate.
May you never feel hot iron in response to revolution.
May your blood never be currency.
May you never know the curse of Blood and Honey.

This is more than popping joints,
Stiff necks and spine alignments.
This is shadow work,
Mirror work and reliance in Spirit.

This is digging in your own wells while
realizing simultaneously that you have them.
It is drinking from your own reservoirs and feeling replenished.
Dissipating blockage in your throat chakras and,
Belting out your secrets.

Affirm your light in light as well as in darkness.
Both will serve as pathways.
Affirm it in others.
You are only human in this lifetime,
an ancient being with more ascending to uncover.