Gain a Nuevo Fresh
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.
By Natalia Figueroa Barroso
Issue 3 | Autumn 2023