I am from a big city
yet small to me
from tamales fresh off the stove.

I am from two people
yet raised by one,
one who did not have me-
a strong, gentle woman, Grandma.

I am from trauma, alcohol, abuse
I am me now because of it.

I am from large family gatherings
from yells, laughs, cries
from no regular childhood
yet so normal to me.

I am from cold, dark insides
also, from some happy insides

I am from house to house
school to school
fight after fight

But that makes me who I am today-
Independent, Emotionless, Me.

Reflection

In writing this poem I have realized that I can finally speak and write about my past. I know that it is okay to express how I feel about it. I have also learned something about myself– that I am finally healing from my past and now speaking about it makes me feel stronger and more powerful.

I know that my past has hurt the younger me very much but I now have to accept it and grow from it. My past is always gonna follow me but it doesn’t have to haunt me for the rest of my life, and it is the reason I am me now. Writing this poem let me express my emotions and it made me feel good about myself at the same time.

I can connect this assignment to the Progression 3 assignment because I will be writing about myself for that paper. I strongly believe that this assignment will help me a lot with my paper because this was kind of my brainstorming part. This poem will evolve to more detail and I will go more in-depth about my story and why these aspects make me who I am today. This assignment also connects to the Progression 3 assignment because it’s like an introduction to what we will be writing about for the paper. I am very excited about this assignment because for the first time I will be sharing my story with people I am not that close to.