Day 4: Plastic Flowers
Darling me, I hope this finds you in good health
I see you in the backyard of overgrown grass and dusty ground
Of the little house down in Round Rock
Writing down everything you observe on a college ruled sheet
Doing research on your knees
Dirt on your jeans and sleeves
Sweating in the Texan Sun
I wish I could tell you
We completed the research
To the project that kept us up at night
But I couldn’t tell you which flower would grow
From this American soil
If we poured our blood onto these seeds
All these years spent experimenting
Just so I could come up to their doorstep
Of their mansion in the heart of Austin
In the pouring rain on a Tuesday night
With a bouquet of all the same petals and colors
Not a mixture of a million other wildflowers
Because that would be just absurd
There are twenty two thousand pages of of meaningless words
Resting upon my desk
For a vase of blossoms that’ll die in a week anyways
Because they can’t bother to put it out in their own backyard
Or even a window seal
They’ll just leave it to rot on their bedside table
Just so they can remind us
That it’s impossible to truly be
The American dream
That my thorns will always be thorns
And my petals will always fall off eventually
So in the end
You’ll only ever be a pretty little thing
Standing still and nothing else
You’re a piece of decor they’ll use during spring
And throw in the closet during the fall
So someone can pull you back out when they need you
To make it seem like they’re all that
Because real flowers don’t have the thorns of a rose
The beauty of a dahlia
And the resilience of jasmine
Because that’s not possible
Not in this garden or any other
About the Author
Ysela Cruz, High School Student & Somos Escritoras Alumni
She currently writes for her school's Early Edition blogs posted weekly for parents and students to catch up on what’s happening in their community. Her eighth grade year, she served as a spirit officer for Running Brushy Middle School’s dance team the Silver Stars and was their National Junior Honors Society President. She attended Somos Escritoras summer program in 2023, and is planning on returning as a mentor in 2025. Ysela has always adored writing- making stories and graphic novels throughout elementary school and has been practicing poetry since around her sixth grade year. She hopes to be accepted into UT Austin or Notre Dame University when she graduates in 2028.
About the Blog Series
The #LatinaLuminaries Blog Series by Somos Escritoras. The series was created to illuminate the wisdom, experiences, voices, and truths of Latina women and girls and the broader Latinx community. The blog series features writing from escritoras (participants) and writing mentors from Somos Escritoras Latinx Writing Workshop. Published Latina authors, writers, poets, and illustrators who presented at our workshop also contributed to the blog series.
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