Diecisiete (Seventeen) - Kaya McCluskey (English)

Diecisiete - Seventeen

Miss wrote down the first assignment:

A self portrait of “ who you are.”

Shoulders slouched into confinement,

a disgusted shiver, and gloom.

Air smelled of wax, dry paper,

seventeen years old in the art room.

We hid under blankets in the trunk,

snow fell thickly on the road, bending.

All play for three caramel skin,

multi-ethnic girls giggling.

Several white boys up front, unsmiling.

Out in the hot tub we drank in whirls.

Then confused, where were our clothes?

Cold, hard goosebumps under curls…

Snapped back to the classroom

skin bristled with fear- no, cold. Damn.

Trust cracked into doom.

Sketched down eyes, lips, fluffy hair

even as, inside my mind,

“half breed” lit up a flare.

Considered exposing the truth, inhaled,

in cryptic calligraphic lines I dared.

Exhaled as shiny clogs clopped over,

looked down above my shoulder.

Frozen, desperate, terrified of exposure.

A nod, Miss’ finger on Miss’ chin

wandered away unafraid

of what some called my sin.

Bio Kaya M

s a mixed Mexican Latinx artist, Kaya (she/her/ella) utilizes art and storytelling interactively to facilitate resistance to harm especially as it spawns from systems of oppression. She earned a Studio Art degree with a minor in Latin American Culture and Society before becoming a mom. She recently joined a graduate program to explore art as it relates to theology and culture. She lives in Nayarit, Mexico with her three babies now 9,10 and 12 and one extraordinary man of Irish/Polish descent.