∞
Colonial Pedestals
We breathe and
swim
in the same
waters
that drift us
apart.
Are we post-colonial?
It is an inquiry
I’ve been having
because
we were financially exchanged.
I do understand
resistance to Americanization.
I’m all for #FuckUSImperialism
but are we trying to omit
everything before 1898?
Embracing terms like
criollo
when they were basically
thrusted upon us with
colonial violence?
We were merchandise for them.
We are merchandise for the others.
La madre patria no existe.
Their Spanish wasn’t given to us
either.
We speak centuries of bloodshed
violence.
Sad thing about us is we
feel like we have no other
choice but to
defend with what
we have
left.
∞
Celia M. Ayala Lugo is a Puerto Rican writer who is pursuing her Ph.D. in Literatures and Languages of the Caribbean in English at University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. Some of her literary works have been published in literary magazines such as Sábanas Magazine, Smaeralit, and El Vicio del Tintero. Her two self-published bilingual anthologies are titled Diario de un Labial Atrofiado: Vivencias y Fantasías and Ramos de Vidrio. Her areas of interest include Caribbean and children’s literature, Caribbean women’s poetry, intersectionality, post-colonialism, and decolonization.