By Anyelí Gómez-Dickerson
a celebration of masa
no, not that masa
we ain’t making tamales now
estamos celebrando esa masa
that wiggles & giggles
the masa bouncing up & down
& all around in my masa hips
masa stacked sky-high
on my well-stacked ass
& all that bountiful masa straining
in my way-too-thin strapped bra
while everywhere masaness bursts
at the masa seams
& who cares if my masa ain’t
Victoria-approved—she can shove
her Secret where her masa don’t shine
you feel me cus i am here ¡presente!
coming in hot screaming proud/loud
& all the way raw for our womanhood
an in-your-face bold pronouncement
from the voices of rage, power & joy
a masa that never meant to elicit nasty catcalls
or warrant vicious slut slurs from dejected egos
but a masa strong in itself viviendo esa vida
loca secure in its boisterous swagger & sway
esa masa made for no one belonging to none
cus the vast landscape of my masa
has a population of one
proprietor: me
assured in my ancestral splendor
i own it this masa inheritance
knowing i must always protect it
as i love & celebrate it
Anyély Gómez-Dickerson is a Cuban-born immigrant who came to the U.S. on a leaky boat in 1980 and grew up in the parts of Miami not covered on travel brochures. She earned her poetry degree at Florida International University and bachelor’s from Temple University. Her poem How to Kill a Mango Tree was a finalist in the Atlanta Review 2023 Poetry Prize and her work appears in Howard University’s The AMISTAD, Latino Book Review, Acentos, South Florida Poetry Journal, West Trestle Review, with her collection We Are the Cultivated Sins on exhibit at ARTE LATINO NOW 2024. Published in other esteemed publications, she’s honored to share space with amazing authors. As a teacher she empowered students through poetry before retiring to give her writing the attention it demanded. As a Latina writer, she probes issues plaguing marginalized communities, the immigrant experience and Afro-Caribbean diaspora while exploring her own black, European, and Taína ancestry. You can visit her at: www.anyelywrites.wordpress.com