A mí mamita le decían la reina My great-grandmother would smile with all her teeth Let out a laugh that everyone still remembers Dicen que cocinaba como no te imaginás And she’d wear dresses with flowers and sunbeams on them Wearing them with a flare like only a dark-skinned woman could Yes A mí mamita…
Category: Poetry
Solange Poem
Speakers off tonight Turn off your headlights tonight Don’t drive the road to slow Don’t look too close tonight My body is a vessel for stories When I was little Every night before bed my mother would read me Myths and legends hailing from West Africa The adventures of Anansi Stories of little girls and…
Make No Mistake
Home lies in the wrinkles on the corner of my father’s eyes, In the tremor and resonance of his quaking belly in response to his own jokes. It shines and captivates through my mother’s smile, Protests in the deep caramel tone of her arms that nursed me. Minutes and hours of commodified work, Entire revolutions…
Flaming Hot Cheetos
The red is the love of the poor, And the hatred of the rich. The crunches are the voices of the uneducated and the unashamed. The smacking of lips is the joy of being selfish enough to love oneself. The severe smell cuts through The false odors awakening the senses. The powder slowly forges a…
Perfect Union
by Alina Yaman I feel heavy these days. I feel paralyzed. Half a centimeter beneath the surface – that’s where I lie. The me of feeling, the me of soul, the me of action – I sit, half a centimeter beneath the surface. I swell with heavy and tragic and despair, I swell with love…