"You are not latina enough,"

I hear someone cry.

My years of being asked what I am,

And being fetishized for my curves,

Are not taken into account.

My years of loathing my body,

My big nose, big lips, big hair,

Are not taken into account.

My father teaching me,

How to speak Spanish at the age of four,

Because I should be proud of my heritage,

Is not taken into account.

Looking on the television screen,

Looking in books,

And seeing parents of the same race,

Having children of the same race,

And feeling alone in the world,

Not knowing there are children like me,

With a black and latino father,

And a white mother,

Who both love their mixed child,

With all their heart.

That is not taken into account.

White girls telling me,

That they envy me,

For my body,

Meanwhile they can fit into clothes,

Created for the stick thin white woman,

While my peurto rican hips cannot,

Is not taken into account, either.

Never fitting into social circles,

Divided by race,

Because I am not white enough.

Because I am not latina enough.