"Reggaetoneros Chase Us Into The Night" by Minerva Macarrulla (she/her)

Reggaetoneros Chase Us into the Night

insecurity runs shallow when the songs carry spirits in on their shoulders—

light judgment on fire,

point an on-beat finger to what could possess you, to what

could harness your cuerpo if you let it,

and you let it— and boy is it poppin’,

and boy does it flow,

and boy is it skippin’ toe to toe flying failures like frayed flags

at half mast and beckoning, beckoning, con fuerza

the beckoning, laughing in wins thru our pores

and laughing out our insides loud enough to fill the sidewalk next to the science center,

or our hall, or DeCafe till it damn near bursts,

our quickrap of the few lines we know,

El Alfa trailing us with his FIYA,

and our bodies, somewhere,

a pot to love the boil, a fan to woo the flames, a vessel vast with vibration,

in and out and in and out of rhythm, making friends with el flow and slipping

into laughter, and laughter, and laughter.