El Huracán/ The Hurricane 

Huracán Huracán 
Hurricane Hurricane 
Tin roof falling
Las Palmas bending
Towards the sea 
Towards the coquis 
Dancing Flor de maga 
Petals; unconscious 
Sifting through the grapefruits
Power donde
Not with our people
Ravishing; hungry; torrential 
La niña on the dirt 
Resist, puños up 
La Resistencia 
Limbs surrounded plummet
On rivers collapsed
En Jayuya, Puerto Rico 
Little family huddled 
Pouring fists back in
Wading the flood waters
Tracing hectic lineage 
Whipping sounds from bodies 
From ancestors, vientos, and souls
Rebuilding while in chains 
Resisting while in plague
Reliving in our grief 
Epi genetic, seethe 
There are hauntings here  
Minus El Huracán 
Climate change exacerbates 
Vulnerabilities 
In our small island 
We will remain 
Patterns swaying 
Decaying the rest of the quenepas 
They saw us in hurricanes 
But we remain in Zephyr
Repelling 



El Rio/ The River 

Mouth contorting 
Rising from the clouds
They say the little Puerto Rican Girl 
Never made it out 
Grandma tells 
The story 
For all of us to hear 
Never seek the river 
After the tormenta 
Betraying ecosystem 
Swallowing even its kind
Levels rising 
Not at the mouth 
Not the bellybutton 
Its somewhere near 
By the Tortugas 
Before the Boa 
Is the River
She whispers 
“El rio es traicionero” 
 


La Playa/ The Beach 

Organized we 
The Puerto Rican sea
Gentrification
Isolating 
Vindication 
Fight for turquoise water 
and the bioluminescent bays
and even the boxed jellies in December  
The privatizations rains
Of our beaches 
Illegal 
But heavily breathing and very alive
We see your buck tooth and blue eyes 
We see your white picket fences and disguise
Your outright fat lies 
We see the excavators moving 
Land they met last year 
We met this land 
Through our Taino ancestors 
And the pains they had to bear 
Leave your cranes
In our trenches
But leave the Playa ALONE 
Please 
Just leave our people a home


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My name is Mydalis Vera. I am a Puerto Rican writer with an MFA in Nonfiction Creative Writing from Bay Path University. My work includes a self-published collection titled Warrior Guerrera Sayings and Affirmations para las Guerreras and a poetry chapbook, Warrior Guerreras, Broken Hearts, Burning Suns. I am also the author of Guerrera Writer Journal. My writing has been featured in various publications such as Multiplicity Magazine, The Nasiona, the Latino Book Review, and the MultiCreative Wisdom Anthology. I am also active in the writing community, hosting a free writing group every Monday night from 7 PM to 8 PM. More about my work can be found on my website and Substack.