BIO
Maria De Los Angeles Rivas is finally embracing her complete name gifted to her by her paternal grandmother. An avid country hopper who fell in love with NY and never left. A busy educator searching for time to write. She has written and presented work in various venues in NYC including the Bronx Museum of Art. She also published in Tokyo StoryBoard and The Abuelas Project. Raised in a large extended family of storytellers she knows it’s time to write the “Cuentos from the Gut'' she's been working on since she was 8 years old. Find her at @mariari818_Instagram
Forehead
“Tienes El Nopal En La Frente”
-A Mexican phrase to shame both my identity and my forehead
A big forehead was frowned upon
Family would say:
Too big, cover it up
Too shiny, dim it down
Too Native, lighten it
Too Mexican, hide it
But we, my siblings and I
Pull our hair back
To
Showcase our nopal
Showcase our forehead
BS detector
Fierce protector
Too Native
Too Indian
Too Mexican
Y Que!
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La Tuya
After Nayyirah Waheed
They take no from our first breath
And whisper
No existe
Ni tu, Ni yo
Ni tu madre
They take no from our first breath
And whisper
Oh no! Eres mujer
They take no from our first breath
And whisper
Feel the fear
Siente el miedo
They take no from our first breath
And baptize you with dirty water
Agua sucia, para la sucia
And you take a lifetime
To whisper back
Existo! Fearless, fuerte y sucia la tuya!