Priana Aquino (she/her) is a third-year business management major, with an emphasis in legal studies. She’s a member of the executive board for Panhellenic and Residence Hall Association and is also a staff member of the Leo T. McCarthy Center. You can find out more about Aquino as a poet on her Instagram page: @piecesofpri
What inspires Aquino: “Poetry has always been a way for me to express how I’m feeling without ever actually having to say it out loud. I actually started writing “Breaking Tradition” when I was in the Philippines a couple of years ago and only finished it a whole year later. To define what it feels like to call multiple places home and exploring what home is to me remains a definite inspiration in my writing.”
What a Waste
The lavender house at the end of the street
is covered by their trees
with windows lined with emerald vines—
trimmed and painted “eggshell cream”
There are knicks in the walls that are the proof
that you were once here too
that life was lived within these walls
but still was left too soon
The other homes through the end of the street
gaze upon and almost pity
at the lavender house that is beautiful/strong/empty
and at me
who can’t afford to live in the city
Breaking Tradition
Crouching down you can find me
dipping my hands into the water
leaving handprints and coming up with
fistfuls of sand—all of which is inspected
and eventually given back
Most times before I stand and wade to shore
I hold my hands under and let the
water clean the rest of the dirt off of my skin
You can not fool me into staying
telling me these beaches are more
than those that line the bay I know
There are always reasons to come back
but never to stay
It is never enough to be stuck between—
it was never fair to be the one to keep me here
It is my turn now
to stay on the sand
look around one last time
and be the first to walk
away from the water, saying
“I’m ready to go home.”
