What is your background with writing? What genres do you usually write about?

I just started writing, but I usually write poems about my feelings of crushes because I feel like they’re too big and I just want to write them down so I can get them out. But I do sometimes write poems about other things, such as adults treating you as a kid, because I think once we get to a certain age, adults should treat us with more respect. But most of my poems are more romance and unrequited love.

What was the specific moment, image, or idea that first sparked this work?

Hamilton, the musical. In the musical, when Aaron Burr and Hamilton duel, Hamilton says to himself, from an edit to be specific, “America, you great unfinished symphony,” and the edit covers how tragic America has been with deaths, ICE raids, and protests that leave more harm than good, and how, in America, we’re not living up to our full potential. What I didn’t like about the video was that it said “we’re not angry enough.” Yes, I feel like our voices should be heard, and there’s the other end of going to full anarchy, which in theory sounds great but being angry isn’t going to solve anything. It just causes more harm. I think there should be balance but it’s very hard to find that right now. That’s the moment when I thought “I want to write a poem about how thankful I am for this country, being that I’m first generation, my family are immigrants, and this country is honestly the reason I get to be here at this school. It’s why I have the life that I have so I can’t take that away from America, but also it’s being ruled in a horrible way, so the moment was actually Hamilton the musical in that edit.

Describe your writing process. How did this piece evolve as you wrote it?

My writing process is that I have an idea so I write it down. I usually write things down by hand, not on a document or anything, I later transfer it. So I start writing it down and I think carefully about what I’m going to write because since I write with a pen, I have to be very careful. I will do edits, but it just makes me be more concise with my words and what I truly want to say on this page that I have. Initially my goal was to show that although I respect this country and love it, it doesn’t live up to its full potential of what I want it to be. I wanted to use what Hamilton did, “America, you great unfinished symphony,” and say America and then something else. What first came to mind was a toxic lover because I love this country and it has done great favors to me and my family but it isn’t acting in the way it should. After I wrote it down I wrote about how the leaders in our country claim to be such saints and in my first draft made a reference to Christ and the Pharisees because they claim to be so holy, but then changed that to be more about political parties because I think that both are failing. They shoot for the same goal in very different manners.

Why is this piece important and relevant now? What message are you trying to send to readers?

Million dollar question, actually. It’s very relevant because I think people usually, from what I see, don’t have an open mind to those without the same political opinions and beliefs. But then there’s the other end of the spectrum with people fully hating on America and wanting to move away. I think it’s just realized that there’s a middle ground and we can love this country for what it is. People love countries, Mexico for example, an amazing tourist destination, the food, the music, the people but the government isn’t the greatest; it’s run by cartels, but that’s not what the country in itself is, it’s the people. “We, the people” (in the American style) is why America is so special because it’s where immigrants truly can come. We’re all immigrants so I think it’s very important that there is a middle ground. I’m trying to send the message that it’s okay to love your own country. I think it’s very normalized to hate on this country, and you can have your own opinions, but to say you hate it is a bit extreme and we don’t want to go to the other extreme of blindly obeying the government. So what I want readers to recognize is that there can be middle ground. The last line in my poem is, “I ask for a solution that will help and that I can aid,” as a call that we can find a middle ground and find progress. Hopefully, someone might be inspired enough to create a movement that can actually create change for both sides.

How has your writing style evolved since you began?

The first poem I ever wrote was just to express myself and vent, but now it’s gotten to a point that when I write I want to make sure I’m being concise with my words. Whatever it is I’m saying, whether a petty feeling or a political idea, I want to be concise. I don’t want to ramble, which is why I prefer writing in poetry, because I feel like it’s just a little taste of something. I find it’s harder to get people into longer poems. As I’ve progressed, I’ve tried to be more concise which is something I struggle with a lot. It’s helped me as I’ve written to be clear with the themes I write. I want people to read it and say “Gabriela wanted to express this” or “She believes in this.”

If you could have your readers feel one emotion, what would it be?

One emotion I would want my readers to feel is hope. I do talk about heavy things in my poems, I don’t just say “Everything is going to work out fine,” I’m just calling things out as they are, but at the end of the day, it’s a want for change and for things to get better and for people to realize that there is hope despite Americans feeling conflicted. So I would say it’s hope.