Clap When You Land

by Elizabeth Acevedo

I am theirs. You can see them on me. But I am also all mine, mostly.

Both of us absorbed in our own worlds but comfortable sharing space.

Playing chess taught me a queen is both: deadly & graceful, poised & ruthless. Quiet & cunning. A queen offers her hand to be kissed, & can form it into a fist while smiling the whole damn time.

Can you be from a place you have never been? You can find the island stamped all over me, but what would the island find if I was there? Can you claim a home that does not know you, much less claim you as its own?

But one thing I learned from the Saints, when the crossroads are open to you, you must decide a path. I will not stand still while the world makes my choices.

so I remember that to walk this world you must be kind but also fierce.

It’s like he bridged himself across the Atlantic. Never fully here nor there. One toe in each country. Ni aquí ni allá.