i am a sixth sun xicana by Mireyda “Mia” Barraza Martinez

The following 2012 first-place poem by Mireyda “Mia” Barraza Martinez was featured in Fresno City College’s Ram’s Tale, now known as the Fresno City College Review:

i am a sixth sun xicana
with a hip hop lisp and a farmworker’s limp
a woman’s hips and my father’s frown
weak arms and a good fist
my mother’s hands and your brown eyes
dirty feet and clean bed sheets
my breasts shine neon
and my teeth are falling out one by one
i’ve worn smoke as earrings and as thin bracelets
i’ve gotten drunk and paper cut off of glossy magazine pages
i’ve marched in the streets for peace
i’ve said no to love and swallowed my words and licked the plate clean
i found the rabbit in the moon
but i’m still searching for the eagle and the serpent
i want to jump head first
but keep feeling with my toes
my dna speaks to your dna but we can’t hear the cosmic conversation
sometimes i am convinced of my own magic
but i can only levitate in dreams
when no one else can see
i’ve devoured pesticidal grapes
and hidden my family behind my heart
i’ve used so much ink on men
and eaten so much of white america’s toxic dinners
and was the last one dancing
and was the only one listening
and the only one saying good morning to the tree outside my window
i burn sage to get clean
i don’t forget the disappeared
and don’t forgive dictators or war criminals or killer cops
i am history’s leftovers and i’m crawling to the new sun
to burn off the veil blinding the eyes of my heart
which are my eyes…

“Mia” is a former Rampage reporter who was killed in a car accident on Nov. 20.