Anew

Erase el lead off mi purity

Blip out el profanity

Blur out el obscenity

Censor mi insanity

Kill mis darlings

Delete them all

Edit y re-edit

Whiteout mis errores

Move them to la trash

Restart

Refresh

Rewrite

Make me anew

Afresh

Scrub la mugre from under each nail

Watch el water swirl y set sail

Down el drain

Out of mi brain

Now bleach los st[r]ains away

Untangle el hair clogging el pipe

Pluck them totalmente out of sight

Absorb every drop, with every wipe

Until el basin’s dry y sparkly white

Unstained

Unspotted

Unsullied

Make me afresh

Again

Superglue together los shattered ceramic plates

Peg to each tattered corner tablecloth weights

Remember to iron out los family dynamic hates

Reset la cutlery

Fork, cuchillo, spoon

Breathe, it’ll all be over soon

Pre-establish sobremesa flattery

Chew with your filthy jeta closed

Swallow any words too opposed

Sustain

Maintain

Entertain

Make me again

Adrift

Point me in el right direction

Y let me dive into mi affection

Do not interfere

Between sueños que float

Right above la tender throat

Gurgling in a sea

Of pure me

Mi unwavering essence

Boundless y free

Unanchored

Unmoored

Unharnessed

Make me adrift

Ablaze

Como wildfire firing embers

I burn todo que remembers

Earth to earth

Ashes to ashes

Dust to dust

Trailblazing a fresh start

Audaz y ardiente

Con poetic desire, fevered like fire

Erratic y archaic, gone haywire

Light

Bright

Fight

Make me ablaze

Abloom

Aquello que’s been buried will sprout

Las lies always have their way out

Dig deep, claw at la dirt

Until there’s no more hurt

Seedlings birth buds y time ripens

¿So, tell me, what is la vida?

¿Un rebirth, como el de Frida?

Bloodied y bone crumpled

Flowered hair with melodía

Unearthed

Uncovered

Undead

Make me abloom

Natalia Figueroa Barroso is a Uruguayan-Australian poet and storyteller who was raised between the unceded lands of the Charrúa Nation and Dharug Country. Natalia is a member of Sweatshop Literacy Movement and has degrees in Communication, Screenwriting and Media Production from the University of Technology, Sydney. Natalia’s writing has appeared in Sweatshop Women: Volume One, Racism: Stories on Fear, Hate & Bigotry, SBS Voices, Story Casters, Any Saturday, 2021. Running Westward, Kindling and Sage, Between Two Worlds, The Big Issue, Puentes Review, Meanjin, ABC Everyday and Mascara Literary Review. She’s currently a post-production coordinator for Fika Entertainment and writing a manuscript.