| Sunny Mournings |

Therapy has only ever been a fancy white word

That was too expensive for our world because trauma

Is abundant and how do you know it’s trauma when

It runs deeps in your history and there is no time to heal

When you’re a first generation degree holder who

Wants to learn how to heal their home, it’s hard because

We are severed by the conversations I want to have

And while I am trying to let this sage smoke cleanse our wounds

Please understand que esto, no es solo para mi

This is for us, and a testament to the resilience of our bloodline

This new language I am learning to speak on top of my Mother tongue

And the other one that rejected me, is me learning to build my vocabulary

Because we never had the luxury when the word life is synonymous with survival

I want healing to be what connects us instead of the memories that hurt

Because stern punishment is how you learned from a young age

That love and fear are interchangeable four letter words

I am carving out spaces for us to grieve the time and care we never got to invest

In each other because you were never here, working multiple jobs

Too busy putting bread on the table to take a seat and rest your tired hands

I’m sorry acknowledging our pain means having your entire world redefined

When your own child reopens scars when they say you also deserved so much more

The sacrifices you’ve made I will never understand or have to suffer through

And I know this is a microscope lens you never asked to be put under

I’m not trying to add more pain to the tab we were too poor to pay

But listen to the power we both hold because you showed me how to be fearless

And just imagine what we can do now, together

Whitney Salgado