Just yesterday, I was tingling down below and thinking of ways to touch and to be touched. Today, I got my period. I was expecting it next week, but it comes as it wants. I am ready for its permanent departure. Soon, soon.

Yesterday, I started Borderlands/La Frontera by Gloria Anzaldúa. Today, I picked up where I left off, but something urged me to start This Bridge Called My Back. The tingling down below dissolved, and twenty-two pages into the book, before the foreword to the first edition and the introduction- I am buzzing all over.

I feel a mix of emotions, both embraced and challenged. I’ve broken out the stickies and my tiny book where I note words new to me. Already, I feel my back straightened, my brown skin itching. I am ready to chew on each word of the twenty-nine foremothers.

May I learn, grow, and dare say: carry even a sparkle of their torch.