Day 4: Plastic Flowers

Darling me, I hope this finds you in good health

I see you in the backyard of overgrown grass and dusty ground

Of the little house down in Round Rock

Writing down everything you observe on a college ruled sheet

Doing research on your knees

Dirt on your jeans and sleeves

Sweating in the Texan Sun

I wish I could tell you

We completed the research

To the project that kept us up at night

But I couldn’t tell you which flower would grow

From this American soil

If we poured our blood onto these seeds 

All these years spent experimenting

Just so I could come up to their doorstep

Of their mansion in the heart of Austin

In the pouring rain on a Tuesday night

With a bouquet of all the same petals and colors

Not a mixture of a million other wildflowers

Because that would be just absurd

There are twenty two thousand pages of meaningless words

Resting upon my desk

For a vase of blossoms that’ll die in a week anyways

Because they can’t bother to put it out in their own backyard 

Or even a window seal

They’ll just leave it to rot on their bedside table

Just so they can remind us

That it’s impossible to truly be

The American dream 

That my thorns will always be thorns

And my petals will always fall off eventually 

So in the end

You’ll only ever be a pretty little thing

Standing still and nothing else

You’re a piece of decor they’ll use during spring

And throw in the closet during the fall

So someone can pull you back out when they need you

To make it seem like they’re all that

Because real flowers don’t have the thorns of a rose

The beauty of a dahlia 

And the resilience of jasmine

Because that’s not possible 

Not in this garden or any other

About the Author

Ysela Cruz, High School Student & Somos Escritoras Alumni

She currently writes for her school's Early Edition blogs posted weekly for parents and students to catch up on what’s happening in their community.  Her eighth grade year, she served as a spirit officer for Running Brushy Middle School’s dance team the Silver Stars and was their National Junior Honors Society President.  She attended Somos Escritoras summer program in 2023, and is planning on returning as a mentor in 2025.  Ysela has always adored writing- making stories and graphic novels throughout elementary school and has been practicing poetry since around her sixth grade year.  She hopes to be accepted into UT Austin or Notre Dame University when she graduates in 2028.

About the Blog Series

The #LatinaLuminaries Blog Series by Somos Escritoras. The series was created to illuminate the wisdom, experiences, voices, and truths of Latina women and girls and the broader Latinx community. The blog series features writing from escritoras (participants) and writing mentors from Somos Escritoras Latinx Writing Workshop. Published Latina authors, writers, poets, and illustrators who presented at our workshop also contributed to the blog series.