Pinxy by Christine Liwag Dixon

My titas tell me I'm wild, that too much freedom

in my American veins

has filled me with disrespect

and maybe it's true because even now I can feel

oceans thundering underneath my skin

(cold and pale because God forbid

I make love to anyone, even the sun).

My titas say I was loved too much as a baby,

that this has made me think

I am worth something beyond a set of hands

and two sets of lips, that I have some purpose

beyond

raising children

and

singing hymns

to the god who killed my ancestors.

My titas order me to swallow my ambition

and little else

because men only want girls who are small

and breakable

and I am simply not delicate enough

for docile domesticity—

I am a tidal wave, wild and ferocious, devouring galaxies—

"Be quiet," my titas say, but how do you stop the roar

of four hundred years of womanhood

once it has refused to be reigned in?

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Christine Liwag Dixon (she/her) crafts a beautifully written poem about breaking free and reclaiming one’s self. “Pinxy” is a poem that expresses independence and refusing to be suppressed under certain expectations and ideals.

Christine’s Contact Info: Insta: @cmliwagdixon Twitter: @cmliwagdixon

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Originally published in April 2020.