I’m going back to Puerto Rico where my voice sounds right by Dariana Pérez

(inspired by Danez Smith)

o Minnesota, your blinding snow tempts us who grew up 

with only a five-degree difference between seasons,

but have you ever stood with the sand weighing you down,

your tears of sadness bathing you and becoming the ocean?

i put on my warm parka and watch it grow white

as the snow of our colonizers floats down into April unaccountably-

too much wind in the winter makes me depressed,

the island heat absently unable to carry me away.

all you want is for us to hate you so damn much

that we stay & hope you can learn to love us back.

it’s pathetic, you know? I keep coming back to you,

my voice floating in the bottom of a faraway sea.

Dariana Pérez (she/her) is a Puerto Rican-Guatemalan artist. Currently pursuing a BFA in Acting and minor in Creative Writing, she is reclaiming her voice and rooting herself in who she is rather than who she is told to be. Puerto Rico, gracias por enseñarme lo que es el amor.