by Karina Guardiola-Lopez
I,
Not brown enough in appearance
Not black enough to relate
Not white enough because, look at my ancestor’s gifts
I,
A Mezo-American, of Mayan Indian, African and Spanish descent
A blend of nations that rival with one another
With all this hate in me, how do I love so hard?
I,
A multifaceted identity
Too obscure on the eyes
Too complex for identifiers and check boxes
I, without typology, they call me hybrid
I am mixed, I stay in the median
But without denying this genealogy
And the stories of pride, pain, and power
About the Author
Karina Guardiola- Lopez, is a writer, poet, actor and educator from New York City. She has been published in various magazines, anthologies and websites including: Writing For Peace, Great Weather for Media, The Scrib Arts Journal, Indolent Books, Poetica Magazine, Acentos Review, New Voices Anthology, The BX Files, Latinoauthor.com just to name a few.
She has also featured at various venues including: The NYC Poetry Festival at Governor's Island, National Black Theatre, Bowery Poetry Club, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Q-Boro Lit Crawl, The Bronx Museum and many other locations. She has facilitated many writing workshops for the youth and now for adults. For more information, visit www.kglopez.com.
