Marina Orozco, age 21 (alum)
I wrote “Alabanza,” which means “praise to this,” because as a Latinx woman I wanted to captivate the power that I possess. In light of recent events and our country’s history of devaluing the lives of people of color, I felt that it was important to remind myself and others like me that we are forces of nature — powerful, beautiful, terrifying and world-changing.
Alabanza
The dust disturbed beneath my heels
composes the constellations.
I wear the five rings of Neptune
on my fingers.
I swallow the moons of Jupiter
like candied almonds.
I am born from the ashes of the old gods.
From Tezcatlipoca and Tlaloc.
From Itzamma, Ix Chel and Quetzalcoatl.
I speak the old tongue,
the language of blood and teeth,
of black holes and dark matter.
I am the heavenly flood,
the shaking of the earth.
My screams are the rolling thunder
and I demand to be heard.