You bring out the Dominican in me.
The wide-hipped, wide-eyed morena.
The mango skin lips.
The sweet bitterness of passionfruit and pride.
The Brugal-sipping borrachos out from Saturday to the next Sunday.
You are the one I choose to love above all others,
sacrifice my solitude.
Allow you to take a piece of me,
ingest me into your soul.
Yes, you.

Only you.

You bring out the Salomé Ureña in me.
The Dominican bolero in me.
The Taino pride and passion in me.
The lip-smacking, hip-rolling in me.
The rojo, blanco y azúl in me.
The Dios, patria y libertad in me.
The merengüe tambora beat in me.
The Taino tranquility and compassion in me.
The spicy, lashing tongue in me.
The jevón morenita in me.
The Junot Diaz creativity in me.
The Julia Àlvarez advocacy in me.
The heart of the guazabara in me.

The Trujillo dictatorship in me.
Put fear in my heart;
the wretched cabrón.

You bring out the Cristobál Colón in me.
The Perejíl Massacre in me.
The Mirabal Sisters in me.
The Anacaona and Atabey in me.
The huracán of oppression in me.
The yunque y yuncazo in me.
The pasteles y Presidente on Sundays in me.
The salt on the threshold in me.

Dulce guare. Kachi, karaya, ke'.
I am the cuco roaming the shadows at night that tugs at the edge of your being.
I claim you as my own
in the name of Columbus.
I want to christen you as my own.
I want to croon you as my own kin.
I want to covet you and live a life of sin.
I want to ball up my fists,
powerful and fiery,
and beat at the air,
imagining it was you.
A mi plín, soy una platanera en mi.
Deal with it.

You bring out the Balaguer in me.
The get-the-fuck-outta-here in me.
The machete in the trunk in me.

The edge of the Pico Trujillo in me.
The Ciudad Trujillo in me.
The Ulises Heureaux in me.
The Buenaventura Baéz betrayal in me.
I could turn on you in the blink of an eye
without regret.
Don't think twice of it.
Cut any and every bitch that looks your way
with lustful eyes and sinful stares.

I am wicked. I am the goddess Kali.
I take your sins as sustenance.
Eyes of lust for your glory.
The delicious sin of the body.
You bring out the sweet, sweet fiend in me.
The ache for your touch in me.
The mortal sin in me.
The misdeed, the fault, the disobedience in me.

Quiero ser tuya. Only yours. Only you.
Quiero amarte. Atarte. Amarrarte.
Love you in every which way a Dominican woman can love.
Let me show you.
Love the only way I know how.