Describe a sunset in a word.
Is it heavenly? Does it melt?
Is it painted in shades of honey?
Or yellow and pink?
A sunset is far more than a single word.
It descends from the heavens
Until it melts on the horizon
Spilling its honey golds across the sky
Whirls of yellow and wisps of pink
A sunset is all of these words,
and a million more.
_____
Capture a symphony in a sound.
Is it haunting? Is it beautiful? Triumphant?
Does it belong to the mariachis? Or the merengues?
A symphony is far more than a single sound.
It’s the marriage of hymns
Notes sewn together like fabrics of a quilt
The textured mariachi and harmonious merengue,
A symphony is all of these sounds,
and a million more.
_____
What are Latinas?
Are they bold or subtle?
Immigrants or indigenous? Brown? Black? Mestizo?
Latinas are all of these things,
and a million more.
Sometimes we clash
Sometimes the sun goes down too soon,
Or our lives become a somber hymn.
But often, in a glorious moment,
We melt together like a sunset
Umbers and ivories spill across the sky
And we band together like a symphony,
Our colorful notes of brown, black, and white string into song
An ode to the lyrics of our lives.
_____
A sunset is not a single word,
A symphony is not a single sound,
Nor are Latinas a single thing,
Because beauty is seldom simple.
Once we see a sunset with our human eyes,
Or hear a symphony with our human ears,
We feel them in our human hearts,
Thus the simple becomes complex
Imbued with the nuance and meaning we carry in our bones,
The mirror to own humanity.
So let vibrant shades melt together,
Let maracas shake with guitar strums,
Let us relish in the complicated beauty,
Of an ode to the modern Latina.
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