What It Means To Be Ramos

I am Aztec
I am tree person
Taking refuge under these leaves 

Hide me without erasing me
Until being Mexican is easy
cuando sea libre

Not a Baez
Not a Kahlo
America, accept me for me

I am a woman with swollen thoughts
tired words, redundant and rewritten over time 
casi libre

We are there to knit together our courage
Woven tight, we are each a Latin strand 
Holding one another when we cannot hold ourselves

We have an unspoken understanding
Of the pain we have all endured as a people
But yet create segregation among our own

This world is kind, it’s society who fails
To rationalize their thoughts, their actions
They leave invisible marks that will never heal

Our backs soaked wet in blood not the sea
And we bleed out their words from our eyes 
And dry them on each other as we sharpen our knives

I am the gulf and the coast
Ramos by day
Ramos by night

Ramos the familiar Sequoia 
Our roots deep in the earth
Soaking up the sweat and tears and bearing salty fruit
Copyright © | Year Posted 2019

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