"The Star Spanglish Banner"
Published in Get Lit's anthology Essential 2022.
Since 2022, Get Lit has taught The Star-Spangled Banner in public schools throughout Los Angeles, inviting students to explore themes of identity, cultural visibility, historical memory, and erasure through poetry
Oh say can you see
Miguel wants to learn the Star-Spangled Banner.
Miguel was the last fourth grader to migrate
into my English as a second language course,
and is the first to raise his hand for every question.
But Miguel views letters in a different way than most.
Because there are a lot of words in Spanish
that do not exist in English,
he learns how to pack them in a suitcase and forget.
Because many phrases translate backwards
when crossing over from Spanish to English,
throughout the whole song,
he tends to say things in the wrong order.
So when I ask him to sing the second verse,
it sounds like
And the rocket's red glare
We watched our home
Bursting in air
It gave proof to the night
that the flag was still theirs
They say music is deeply intertwined with how we remember.
Miguel hears the marimba and learns the word home,
hears his mother's accent being mocked and learns the words shame,
hears his mother's weeping and learns the word sacrifice.
He asks, what does the word America mean?
What does the word dream mean?
I say two words with the same meaning are what we call synonyms.
You could say America is a dream,
something we all feel silly for believing in.
He says,
"Teach me how to say bandera.
Teach me how to say star.
Teach me how to hide my country behind the consonants
that do not get pronounced.
Miss Angelica,
teach the letters to just flee from my lips like my parents,
and build a word out of nothing.
In my tongue, we do not pronounce the letter H.
Home is not a sound my voice knows how to make."
It's strange what our memories hold on to.
It's strange what makes it over the border
to the left side of the brain,
what our minds do not let us forget,
how an accent is just a mother tongue
that refuses to let her child go.
The language barrier is a 74 mile wall
lodged in the back of Miguel's throat,
the bodies of words so easily lost in the translation.
Oh, say for whom does that
star-spangled banner yet wave
Give back the land to the brave
and let us make a home for us free.
"Burn Slowly"
Published in De Los, the Los Angeles Times' platform dedicated to Latino culture and identity, in February 2024
My love burns slowly
like Palo Santo, mole, chile poblano lingering on your taste buds
like smoldering sunsets
red, orange aztec hues kissing the sun
I burn slowly
so you should be careful how you hold me
I could embrace you so warmly
or in the eclipse of a kiss
scorch you without warning
This love is not a fairytale story
this love is an alter unfolding
a woman that romanticized her lonely
and learned solitude to be holy
In Mexico, ponen velas/candles on tombstones and ofrendas
to guide souls that
have passed away, back home
So I never wanted to be someone’s firework, that explosion
of romance that they sell to us
in telenovelas and American T.V
Instead let me be that unwavering light
a cathedral of stubborn embers
a subtle warmth
that reminds you,
this is home.
"Step Up"
Published in the USL Women's Soccer League National Campaign in collaboration with Puma in 2023.
Today, as you step onto the field,
As you defend and attack
as you move, quick, swift,
like you were made for this
know that
you do not do so alone
with each step, you run with all of the women
before you, and all of the women that will come after you
a stampede of mujeres
blazing a trail on fire
time cannot catch you
para ti, no existen los límites
you, come from women that transformed
pain into victory
women, that accepted impossible as a challenge
a challenge is brought to you
and you do not turn away
your journey today, awaits you
and you do not step down
you step into your purpose
you step strong
you step hard
con toda la fuerza de mujer
you step up.