Seventeen years old, soon to be eighteen
senior in high school
capricorn
allergic to dust and animal hair
born in the United states
embarrassed about her family
A family of immigrants
Embarrassed to let people see her
Sitting on a cold metal bar of a bike
while her mother peddled them home
Her mother
single parent of four kids
strong
Independent women
Who looked at her daughter with hurt in her eyes
Upset to know that her little girl
Was embarrassed of her
A girl that could feel her mother sorrow
her heart-ache
while her mother cried she to her aunt
all the way from her dark room
A girl who was naive
who thought she was entitled to ask her mother for anything she wanted
and expect to get it
A girl who was ignorant
in not seeing all the little things that her mother did to make her happy
even when she couldn’t afford it
A girl who is ashamed
to think that she was better than her family
I have learned to love my family as they are
learned to not change who they are
because of what other people may think of them
I’m the daughter of a single immigrant mother
and I am not embarrassed of my roots
My name is Ingris Monjares-Mejia
And this is me.
When I was looking for what to write about I came across my old poem that I completed in ninth grade and was amazed by how many things changed about myself. I wanted to kinda write an updated version of that same poem but with more detail and more cleary to my theme. When I was starting to write this piece I used my old poem to give me a baseline of how to begin my new poem. Then I just listened to music and really got myself to the mentality of my younger self.
"Wow! Your poem is very powerful, I think it really shows your emotions and also shows the hurdles that you went through, but also what you have learned. I liked the structure of your poem and also the ending line, it shows your message and how proud you are of your culture/roots. Good work! It´s inspiring to read too."
--Lynne Vu