Melissa Lozada-Oliva
AKA What Would Jessica Jones Do?
jessica jones is so dark­haired she must be latina
i pretend she is so that i am
not once again rooting for some angry white girl

so i tell myself that
all of this throwing a heater out of the window must be chingona
all of this rude lonely girl must be bruja
all of this breaking & entering & you shoot at me,
i’ll pull the bullet out of my ruined jacket &
shove it up your ass with my pinky finger
must be mujerista

i tell myself
all of this dark hair clinging to her rosy cheeks like a bad boyfriend
must have been my abuela’s once
all of this smash a cockroach that crawls up the drain
must be with my mother’s fist

& when jessica jones looks in the mirror
& says “to be alone is better”

it must be me
it must be me
not smiling back