Tanya Flores Hodgson

All I’m saying is don’t lump us all together in the same cazuela as if you were making capirotada Somos muchas Las Muertas / Las Lloronas

Hay Lloronas who appear bloody and greñudas with barbwire tangled around the _______ (fill in the blank)

It takes skull and skill and a particular aesthetic to being dead Even a face lacking eyes can be beautiful You just have to know how to carry it you have to know how to wear the void

Listen Hear those high-pitched cries that sound like newborns or cats in heat? That’s Me. That’s Us.

Have you heard La Carretera Que Chilla?

Milpa

Those are all the whistling bones on the road of time along the arroyos dumped in the ditches That’s Me. That’s Us.

When you hear the rattles and feel the Earth quake beneath your feet That’s Me. That’s Us.

Somos Muchas Las Lloronas / Las Muertas

I’m the enchanting long-haired Woman who lures the drunken into the woods, Ven, Ven acá and then watch as I open up my huge horse mouth to devour unfaithful lovers (The women of Central America aren’t fucking around) I’m the kind of Llorona who likes to snatch small things humans go crazy when they can’t find—keys, wedding rings, money, children Ay mis hijos! Mis hijos! (Damn! I should’ve put a copyright on that, right?)

How many centuries now? Que I kill men Que I kill mis hijos Yawn. Dizque. Maybe. Maybe. Okay, Yes! Ha ha! But why? Why? Don’t forget to ask, Why?

Penumbra

And it’s not like that at all Me who you fear I’m collecting all the scattered bones of women and children across the land (there are so many)

Culture

Y no se hagan You all love your monstrous female archetype, your Terrible Terrible Mother That’s Me That’s Us

And you scholars Forever taking Me/Us apart and putting Us back together again. I’m flattered, really pero también Where are my flores? Where are my altars?

I’m here to tell you it takes a lot of work being a Llorona una Muerta / Mujer Mito Long-ass unpaid hours no justice no closure no respect no peace

It’s a split existence one foot deeply buried in the underworld the other still wandering around en un tacón rojo dando patadas y zapateadas (Yes, I’ve taken lessons)

I take your man-made horrors all the female sorrows of the world and drown them in a bathtub in a River You see, I am a River a Lake on the highest of cliffs spilling

over, a Rising Ghost Ocean howling howling in ceaseless waves

Olga García Echeverría. Born and raised in East Los Angeles. Ultra Libra in love with the ocean and the trees and the disappearing bees. Teacher of Literature. Creator and destroyer of Language. Splendid Spinster who plans to joyfully spin words until her fingers turn to dust. olgagarciaecheverria.com Me who you vilify I cradle the warrior women who die in childbirth I wrap serpents around my waist I am pulverizing bone at the Beginning of time to bring forth life I am always bringing forth life

It is I who comes here again and again to shake and awaken your skeletons to scream to frighten you with an obsidian mirror

Cegua

Tanya Flores Hodgson is an artist based in Los Angeles. She was born in Masaya Nicaragua and immigrated to the United States at a young age. She holds a Bachelor’s in Fine Art Photography and a minor in Latin American Studies from California State University Long Beach. Her work focuses on Central American identity, immigration, feminism, social movements and the impact of U.S. imperialism/colonialism on Latin American politics, specifically Nicaragua, through a feminist decolonial lens. tanyafloreshodgon.com