Migueleña

By E.E. Rodriguez
Spring 2020 | Poetry

A land tried by devils,

but not defeated.

Seeing perros roam streets

is expected.

Some strays,

some human.

All bound by death.

The city passes its devastation

down like a legend. Its history

just confirms it:

the city has been killed

time and time again.

La gente mas fuerte con cada muerte.

San Miguel melted

in the eruption of 1655,

and lived to be torn apart

in the earthquake of 1917.

I pledge my allegiance to

la ciudad sin miedo.

I wanna be la nina del vecindario,

the kid everyone knows.

I’m tired of hearing the reminder

que soy la hija de Ana,

a visitor from far away,

an American kid.

Quiero ser Migueleña—

Tried by devils, but not defeated.

E.E. Rodriguez is a Latina writer from the D.C./Maryland area. She is in her second year of the Creative Writing and Publishing Arts program at the University of Baltimore, focusing in Poetry. Emely's work has been published in 45th Parallel, The Voices Project, Grub Street, and Welter.

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