Hombres

“Los hombres no lloran”, “deja de llorar que pareses marica”

Words that I heard from my parents. 

Palabras que se quedaron conmigo toda mi vida.

So what do I do? I suffer in silence, I walk through life putting up a façade.

Always smiling, always energetic, always cracking jokes.

But guess what?

I KNOW, what it feels to be broken down. 

I KNOW, what it feels to be alone, 

to feel the whole world moving forward and you being at a stand still. 

I KNOW PAIN, ANXIETY, and depression. 

But you wouldn’t know this unless I tell you.

You wouldn’t bother to notice the signs, and even if you were to notice them, you wouldn’t acknowledge them. 

“Los hombres no lloran”, “Un hombre tiene que ser fuerte y proveer”

A mi comunidad no le importa mis sentimientos.

And we both know why, because I’m a man…

An Afro-Latino man at that, so that means my feelings don’t matter right?

That means I shouldn’t be sad or cry or have emotions…right?

I should just MAN UP and suck it up. 

I should just man up and suck it up.

~KC