By Emmy Dominguez
I speak in tongues– words of both Spanish and English chime and dance in resistance and spite. I speak in tongues– to you, soy paria, extranjera, dumb and dirty but exotic when I get angry and bite. I speak in tongues– to me, you are ill-considered. I don’t have to accept your ignorance, your loud incompetence will always turn into fearful whispers in the limelight. I speak in tongues– see my wit, or insults that you deem fit, because I am not ashamed of crossing borders within the lines I write. I speak in tongues– so what of my cadence bothers you: is it the bicultural spit that falls from my lips, or the way I can smile and call you a pendejo to your oblivious face in delight?
on girlhood The question of “what would you say to your younger self?” can only be answered with indignation. I’ll tell my girlhood to wipe her tears and embody the sting of her scraped knees. I’ll get her to unlower her eyes and become utterly terrifying– to let the anger that rots her teeth stain her lips and jaw until she takes the shape of a monster with a maw to vomit up all the filth she’s been taught to hate herself. Because in every ending she will be slaughtered in the most vicious nature of womanhood.
Emmy Dominguez is a 19-year-old community college student from Southern California. Emmy is a Chicana with both Mexican and Salvadoran roots. Emmy is pursuing a Bachelor’s in Creative Writing and hopes to become an author one day. Emmy’s poetry commonly centers around Emmy’s Latine identity, women, and femininity. This is Emmy’s first time being published.