Celestial

Encoded in

our DNA

the spirit

of our

ancestors

Fly with us

Every day.

To my future daughter

I love you
and I hope
I showed
or spoke
those words to you
every day.

I’m 27 borderline 28
and you’re nowhere
on the horizon

Right now
I’ve been working
making the world
a little better
before you arrive

I know
I’ll have called
you a leader
more than
princess

You will play more
than house
unless it involves
how to build that
house.
You will be beautiful
from the inside
out

Strength is our legacy

You come from your
great great abuela Matilde
who was a feminist
before the term
even existed.

you come from
Aurora y Ortencia
Fairy tale abuelas
known for their love

Love is my superpower
and will be yours too
Love, to understand
love, to have patience
love so you can forgive
love because it’s the closest
thing to magic.

You come from your
bisabuela Laura
A single mother
in 1950s Peru
selling tamales to survive.
She cooked from the heart
and had magical pots
that made enough food
for everyone.

you come from your
bisabuela Angela
whose hips gave birth
to 12 children
Patient
Making all of their clothes
Passed early on
but immortalized
by naming almost every female
after her.

you come from your abuela
Angela
with unparalleled work ethnic
never greedy
taught me how to be giving
because there’s always someone
in a worse position

You also come from me,
when life hands me
tough at bats
I always swing for the fences

when you find yourself
in difficult positions
pause
be grateful
Take it as a compliment from God
because we are only given
what we can handle.

I’m 27 borderline 28
and I’m learning every day
how to be better
how to take the high road
and not stray.

I’ll always be in your corner
gently guiding
but I will tell you
when you’re wrong.
I will not judge your mistakes
because I love you already.

I think about the day
we finally meet
and hold you.

I aspire to be your role model
but you will have a great destiny
be my greatest legacy
I love you
and I don’t even know you
Mi hija,
live life fearlessly
don’t be intimated by
darkness
or heartbreaks
because you’re blessed
by God’s grace.

Birthright

Please give me
another term
because what
I’m observing
is best described
as absurd

I am
first generation
born and bred
in the good ol’
U.S. of A.
I’ll be quick
to say
Te amo Peru
but
it doesn’t stop
my heart
from beating
red
white
and blue.

Walls are built
at the border
to establish
so called order.
Illegal aliens
are invading
but the skies
are clear.
They are people
undocumented
not thieves
El Chapo
or rapists
as stereotypes
would have you
believe.

I am
an anchor baby,
parents surviving
on 25 cent yogurts
bare floors
as a mattress
working
working
working
manual labor
lost in translation
being their Sacajawea
their motivating force
sacrificing their all
so we can have the most.

Immersed
to the culture,
celebrating the 4th
of July
waiting for fireworks
to illuminate the sky
1st place in the Geography bee
stretchy pants
for an all you can eat
Thanksgiving feast,
Deep roots in the Garden state
Proud Scarlet Knight
R.U. all day
Competitive
driven to succeed
defying the odds
23 with a master’s degree
paying it forward
teaching children
to be all
that they can be
my subject is Spanish
so it’s
Si se puede