Isabella Brown

Pertenencia

(1) costarricensidad

I dance alone in a room of mirrors

salsa rueda with a partner resembling

me. she’s spinning in synchrony

but just out of sight, just out of reach

I whirl desperately to face her

but she’s rotated once again

an identity always in periphery

an infinite dizzying chase

(2) latinidad

I balance her in the center of my tongue

la chica de la gola magnifica

she flounces and flashes to attract the gaze

of those who dare to ask of her

she twirls clumsily, stomps wildly

I struggle beneath her indignant weight

curl mis pa-la-bras carefully around her

try not to tangle and trip on her skirt

(3) identidad

I dream of one day catching the hand

of the brazen partner in the mirror

dream of taming la bailarina

to finally control my cadence, but

the feeling of slipping through my own fingers

wakes me to the chilling reality:

to grasp one girl is to let another go

to train a new mouth is to forget the first