I WAS THE SEÑORITA (Poem)

I WAS THE SEÑORITA

By Farah Lawal Harris, 2025

One day when I was walking,

walking to the fair,

I ran into some trauma,

almost took me out of here.

When they say “Shake it señorita”

you don’t have to if you don’t want to.

You ought to be able to choose

whether you shake it like a milkshake

or abruptly end the date.

I wobbled to the bottom,

soul-clapped to depression and resentment,

dropped God like a bad habit,

refused to wear flowers in my hair

for 16 years.

I wobbled to the top,

talked to the pain of the past

that formed fibroids in my womb,

and a tumor in my breast.

I turned around, and turned around,

I cried it out, I wrote it down,

I screamed it out, I shook it out,

I prayed it out, forgave out loud.

God heard my shouts!

Miraculously, malignancy

made an S-T-O-P, stop!