A DAY OF ATTEMPTED DESTRUCTION

Written By Dr. Melinda Gonzalez

This world would chew me up and spit me out if I let it

It would quiet me, destroy me

Rob me of my God

Whiten me,

Erase the Brown in me

Massacre my indigenous ancestors

Undo the accent in my father’s name

 

It would anglo-cize my tongue

Remove the rolling Rs

Limping my hair

Uncurling the locks on my daughter’s

It would thin my lips and rethicken them collagened

Calling them new and undiscovered

It would claim my flesh in tanning bottles

 

Test medicines in my womb

Sterilizing my hopes for children

And call it reproductive rights

Shush me and call it women’s rights

Silence me and render it equality

 

This world would rip the hejab off my head

with threats

It would force citizenship on my people

and then call us [redacted],

ignorant, unqualified, Hispanic

 

This world would take my lands

and call me immigrant

refuse me education and then undocument me

use my labor and enslave me

claiming all the while to not need me

 

This world would destroy me if I let it

I resist and abate it

Prostrate it – only to God

Fists up, cocked up

unpacified,

seeds cannot die

Author’s Note: All Puerto Ricans know what happens when you get hurt as a child; someone grabs you and says, “Sana sana culito de rana.” Right after, you wait for the healing that will come tomorrow, if not today. But what happens to the wounds that no one sings to or kisses away? How do we learn to heal them? To heal ourselves?

Dr. Melinda Gonzalez

Dr. Melinda Gonzalez, a native of Newark, New Jersey with ancestral home in Moca, Puerto Rico, is an Afro-Indigenous scholar-activist-poet of Puerto Rican descent. She has performed poetry internationally under the name Poeta Guerrera. Her poetry ranges in style and depth. At moments it rages in political fire – angry at the injustices that plague the world. Other pieces are deep and personal – commenting on a painful childhood that has fueled her love for artistic expression. Having always searched for a deeper meaning and understanding to life, Melinda’s personal experiences in different religions has impacted her work. Her poetry captures her journey through life’s difficult emotions. She has been published in several literary journals and self-published two poetry books – Ramas y Raices (Branches & Roots) and ReConstruct.

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