Introductions

By Ariana Brown

i’m ariana &

i’ve been conquered.

child of méxico, africa, usa–

i have someone else’s name.

i was born in a cemetery.

in 1848, frederick douglass

wrote an article condemning

the u.s. conquest of méxico.

i went to the alamo

on a field trip once.

my uncle’s dream

is to own land. his

facebook photo

is him atop a horse. this

is not a joke. a border

blew through me, hooked

my great grandmother’s tooth, dragged

the bones of laredo south

across the river. my great grandmother’s

hometown is built on the bones

of her ancestors. pride is

a strange violence. my

great grandmother’s country

had a black president

in 1829. last name guerrero,

meaning warlike, soldier.

my father was in the air force.

he died flying.

try to tell me the wind don’t speak?

my father died before i was born.

i talk to everyone’s ancestors.

i'm a cotton twirler, shape

shifter, gravedigger. my

curandera says “the earth can

transform anything.”

i be buryin’ shit all the time.

Copyright Credit: Ariana Brown, "Introductions" from We Are Owed. Copyright © 2021 by Ariana Brown. Reprinted by permission of Grieveland LLC.

Source: We Are Owed (Grieveland LLC, 2021)