Yo soy poderosa, yo soy abultado — El Monstruo
I beat with the syncopated rhythm of twenty-five million hearts criss-crossing my sinking calles
Me quema con potencial bajo del decaimiento
I contain two-thousand-three-hundred years of Neuvo Mundo history distilled through my saturated clay layers
Esta es mi hora, make the most of me.
Yo soy el corazón de mi gente, a city of contradictions you will never understand
Yo soy el centro de la imaginación
I live in constant turmoil, accustomed to the unexpected shifts and assaults of fate
I have been hardened by centuries of cruelty;
La muerte es mi compañera.
La violencia está en mis venas, el sacrificio en mi naturaleza, la lujuria de la sangre en mi personalidad
Still I offer hope to those who journey to me
I succor los golpeados, los perdidos, los miserables
I bleed for the next generation, I cry for the survivors
El maíz de la venganza sprouts from my skeletons to sustain widows and orphans.
Empires come, empires vanish
Governments topple like the columns of Tenochtitlan
Me queda
Resiliente, profunda, compleja, defectuosa
I say to you, “Aqui estoy, Ciudad de México, lo que debería ser.”
Atreyee Gupta explores the liminal spaces in which humans interact with society, geography, and identity in her writing. Atreyee is also also the creator of www.bespoketraveler.com, a digital alcove examining travel’s transformative powers. Atreyee’s work has been published by Blue Cubicle Press, Rigorous, Sunlight Press, Shanghai Literary Review, and Chicago Literati among others.