Krizia Isamar Bruno: Mejorar la Raza

Photo: Joanna C. Valente

Mejorar la Raza: Part Two

No more,

I said, stop digging

into my roots with

a fine-toothed comb.

No more, planting 

the colonizer’s seed 

in my fertile soil.

I’ve found love, I said

to my false friend in cream.

I found a sliver of hope

within my withered 

strands.

I found love in me.

Loca, they said

when I chop off their

prized possession and

throw it into the garbage with

the rest of my euro-mind.

Loca, they said

when I let the seedling

of my love grow into a field, 

curls in black, brown, and caramel 

existing in any direction.

Look into my eyes, I beg

my mother. Look into my eyes

and see the damage. It is

the same in me, as it is in you.

Whack the weeds, and sow

a garden overflowing with passion 

flowers and trees of Guayaba.

Stop, I said with a foot on the ground

and a fist to the sky. Stop this 

nonsense—in defiance,

for acceptance. I repeat:

We must find love in every curl, in every melanocyte.

We must embrace ourselves, our mixture of taina, africana, y iberica. 

We must mejorar la historia de la raza.

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Krizia Isamar Bruno is an artist, editor, and writer from Brooklyn and is currently based in Pittsburgh. Her creations feature a magical and diverse world where moms and daughters live for and against each other. She has a bilingual chapbook of prose and poetry called “Dominicana | Americana” set to be published in Summer 2019 with Ofrendas Press. Krizia can be found on Instagram and Twitter @KriziaIsamar and her website www.kri-zia.com