-I had a Hispanic Heritage Month assembly on zoom today where Marley Lizama was our guest speaker and he had us rewrite one of his poems, "Where I'm From," to fit ourselves. This is mine.-

Where I'm from it feels like the middle of Summer and the midst of winter
Where I'm from my family is blood relatives and neighbors, college friends and second cousins, aunties and uncles
Where I'm from sounds like Bollywood and rap, constant traffic and absolute...

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 cups water, blander than an all-white IKEA bedroom setup ​
• 3 tsp salt, okay in small doses but will be worse than the dead sea if you are mean​​
• ​1/2 tsp black pepper, nobody knows why I'm here​
• 2 1/2 tbsp brown sugar, super sweet even in small doses​
• 1 Brittany Spears CD, toxic
• 1 dragon fruit, weird and unique
• 1 celery stalk, adds color​​ but nothing else
...

The color of skin
Is a picture of where we have been
Not a reflection on where we will go

Yet the seeds put in your mind
Continue to blind
Your eyes no longer see the truth

But we all have the capacity to change
You just have to let the seeds hang
Let the light into your mind and see

See the invisible lines between colors
And realize we are all your sisters and brothers
Listen to the aching...