Mi Isla maravillosa y preciosa

What does it mean to be a Boricua?

Does it mean spending your days

running or swimming in las bonita playas?

Is it to hold everything dear to you in the palm

of the cultura de tu isla?

Or is it all about tu sangre?

If it is about lasangre

then I qualify as a Boricua.

If I have to live in la isla,

then I do not qualify, as my days

are spent not even close to the palms.

I have to travel states to see las playas.

For years, I haven’t been to la playa.

No longer remembering the sanguine

feeling of wet sand in my palms.

It was a serene moment being a Boricua

who had the luxury to spent the day

in the waves surrounding la isla.

I listen to the stories of our visit to la isla-

pieces flashed in my head like la playa,

being surrounded by mi sangres,

mi familias, I haven't seen since that day.

¡Pero agarrando soy una Boricua!

It is hard to believe as I see mi mami’s palm.

When I was younger, I would take mi papi’s palm

and ask him about la isla,

since I don’t remember being in Borikén

and splashing mihermana en las playas.

I didn’t tell him despite what is en mi sangre

I didn’t feel like a Boricua everyday.

I wish I can accept myself daily.

That I don’t have to image that my palm

contains Taíno, Spaniards, African en la sangre.

¡Ojalá pudiera ir a ver la isla!

was not complicated by the washed-up playa

and protest of ¡Nostromos éramos Boricua!

Some day, I will journey down to mi Isla;

view the palm tree on my way to la playa,

como mi sangre claims, I can be a true Boricua.

Darelys Lugo is a student at Austin Peay University pursuing an English major and a Creative Writing minor. She is originally from Puerto Rico but moved all over after her father joined the army. In 2022, was one of the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts Scholarship winners.