Middle Name
my eastern head at the edge of a hospital bed,
my foot hanging from your wall.
A middle name,
a scribble, a tilde
confronting kings of the West
A middle name,
accessory on my ID card
a face is not match to the name,
a foreign name that I rather not pronounce.
Caravan
To Jakelyn Amei Rosmery Caal Maquin
Her canvas shoes carry a pair of equipped feet and legs.
They carry her slender figure and her dark eyes.
Feet, legs, eyes and spirit fully prepared
la virgencita hanging from her neck
moneditas in her pocket.
Onward, we are leaving!
United
together,
we will conquer our fight with the government.
we see the border of our dreams.
One step after another, we move forward
and laugh at times,
get quiet,
and swim
Proud, we claim compassion on the edge of our existence.
One step after another, we spot the our dream
shocked,
exhausted.
United
together,
we will resist.
The toxic track initiated by the empire's brutal force...
On the blind fog of our fight.
Feet, legs, eyes and spirit fully prepared
holding tight to virgencita
moneditas caen.
Onward, we flee!
Absorbed by the sun
ignored by the clown
Her canvas shoes slowly fall off: drained, all faint.
They announce the tragic departure of her slender figure and her dark eyes.
Lina Rincón is a Latinx immigrant, a sociologist, and a poet. She writes about the experiences that shape her life and the lives of others like herself: the displaced, the left behind, the marginalized, the hopeful, the activist, the heartbroken. Her poetry has appeared in Harvard College’s journal “Palabritas” and on the website “Love’s Executive Order.” She uses poetry to help college students and the general public to understand the struggles of immigrants and people of color.