No One Can See the Hidden Ocean I've Created

Present in Front, Past Lingering

by Alexandra Flores I am from the books me and my sister have collected throughout all these years, from all the hair products and hair ties that once kept it all tight.

I am from the the small apartment in a old and dirty building, the same buildings that line up the streets of Brooklyn I am from all the plants my mother keeps inside this small place we call home, from all of the nature we once used to grow The big palm trees that were once outside my real home.

The real trees whose long limbs I remember as if they were my own.

I'm from all the meals me and my family used to share among the dead among the living From all my aunts, my mothers, my sisters and all the family we have and lost.

I'm from that need to be the best in life and from those lessons taught by their words and by this life and from every day she wasn't there and each day I didn’t care I'm from "Stop being a brat" and “Be careful." Those words build my base to make me the person I am today.

I'm from broken traditions I once held dear I'm from the place of freedom where people are still locked in chains.

I am from all the Chicken, rice, beans, and salad you could possibly eat.

I am from every day I grow older and from every day I inch closer. Closer to being held in a casket. Closer to seeing their graves.

I am from all you can think of and more beyond these words.

30