In Spanish, “to birth” is translated as “dar a luz.”
How poetic—to give someone light,
a slice of sun as they exit mother’s earth.
At 23, I’m having dinner with our parents
when Papá asks Do you ever wonder
what it would be like—not being alone?
I’ve already devoured quincexpired prayer:
Dear God, please give me a sibling.
I only choose to answer, Sometimes.
By the look on Mom’s face, I know—
I wasn’t meant to be alone.
Except if you’d lived, I wouldn’t be at all.
You were the silence of mother’s faith
and I was the song that ended you.
Tenga esta luz hermane.
Let me write you into something I can hold.

Angelina Leanos

+ posts

Angelina Leaños is a queer Latina and a third-year MFA poetry student at Fresno State. A Ventura County Youth Poet Laureate emerita, she serves as a member of the California Poets in the Schools’ Board of Directors and is the managing editor for The Normal School magazine. Angelina’s work has been published in Urban Word, Arkana, and elsewhere.

This author does not have any more posts.