Stuck in Not-so-Wonderful-Land

Liann Acosta Palmers, Contributing Writer

Something you should know 

I am not from here 

Big house, small town, quiet days and night 

Same faces, same places, same racists 

Foreign 

It feels like I’m on a long, unwanted, forced vacation Never ending 

I want to go home so bad 

 

Something you should know 

I was raised in a big city 

Where families of 7 share one bedroom apartments And nothing was ever quiet about it 

Home 

The city where the people never sleep 

Repeating routines, rushing to the streets 

Same hectic days, but never the same faces

Bodegas found at each corner with the constant commands, “yo lemme get a baconeggandcheese” 

And yeah, it’s one word 

 

Something you should know 

The Bronx is mistaken for its dirtiness yet it’s the borough made up of only love and community

Brooklyn known for keeping it’s charms that the people keep alive 

Manhattan being the center of attention, busiest of them all, crawling with bodies from different lands, where skyscrapers shine better at night 

Queens is the largest and for that we thank her for the city’s richest flavors

And then there’s Staten Island which ain’t even count as a borough

 

Growing up I didn’t think it was that bad here 

My parents thought otherwise 

It’s what’s best for my future they said 

So here I am 

Alice in Wonderland 

 

Something you should know 

It isn’t as wonderful as I thought I’d be 

 

But

Something I should know 

Sometimes it’s not too bad 

At night I can look up 

Admire the star freckled sky 

Maybe catch a shooting star and wish that one day I’ll go back to where my heart belongs