aka WWJD?

jessica jones is so dark­haired she must be latina i pretend she is so that i am

not once again rooting for some angry white girl

so i tell myself that

all of this throwing a heater out of the window must be chingona all of this rude lonely girl must be bruja

all of this breaking & entering & you shoot at me, i’ll pull the bullet out of my ruined jacket &

shove it up your ass with my pinky finger

must be mujerista

i tell myself

all of this dark hair clinging to her rosy cheeks like a bad boyfriend must have been my abuela’s once

all of this smash a cockroach that crawls up the drain must be with my mother’s fist

& when jessica jones looks in the mirror

& says “to be alone is better”

it must be me it must be me

not smiling back

aka take a bloody number

isn’t kilgrave all of our white ex­boyfriends

isn’t the white ex­boyfriend the kilgrave of the world

isn’t the world ruled by people who aren’t used to being told no

isn’t no the most powerful word aren’t words what got you here, girl

‘cause you couldn’t keep your goddamn

mouth shut

Poems by Melissa Lozada-Oliva

Featured in Basement Babes, Issue 13