Juliet Takes a Breath

by Gabby Rivera

“You must walk in this world with the spirit of a ferocious cunt. Express your emotions. Believe that the universe came from your flesh. Own your power, own your connection to Mother Earth. Howl at the moon, bare your teeth, and be a goddamn wolf.”

Everyone around the table raised their glasses and looked at me. In each of their faces, I saw different versions of who I was.

Go down on a meat-eater and tell me if you can’t taste the sadness.”

I was all Virgo and no clarity.

Maybe America just swallowed all of us, including our histories, and spat out whatever it wanted us to remember in the form of something flashy, cinematic, and full of catchy songs. And the rest of us, without that firsthand knowledge of civil unrest and political acts of disobedience, just inhaled what they gave us.

“Juliet, it’s not that you can’t ever go home. The idea is that once you’re able and confident enough in yourself to leave, the world changes you, and you’re not the same person anymore ever again and that’s the beautiful part,” Kira replied.