This is Why, by Keana Aguila Labra

From Aracelis Girma’s ‘Jacaranda’: She said, “but tell me a story that did not begin with

love.” This is why

my hands were clean

before and after the bathroom was stained with my mistake, is what they will call it my sin, is what they mean.

This is why the decision was already made, yet my feet unmoving laid against the pavement Why do we hesitate? Why do we drown ourselves with the dirt of their guilt? The decision was already made.

This is why I drove alone but you’re not alone, with the mud of their vitriol spilling out of every orifice,

I somehow made it to the clinic but you’re not alone, they tried to tell me but the decision was already made the decision was mine to make

This is why my hands were clean, remain clean, and will forever be clean.