The Tattooed Poets Project: Sarah Rafael Garcia

Our next tattooed poet is Sarah Rafael Garcia, who sent us the following photo:

Sarah explains where the line "I struggle with the womyn I aspire to set free..." comes from:

"The tattoo is line out of my poem 'Without A Name.' When I started the MFA program in Creative Writing (Fiction) in 2012, I knew it would most likely make me doubt myself as a writer. So I started getting tattoos of my own published work. Little did I know then, the experience would also create doubt in my personal identity as a woman writer of color. I graduated from the MFA May 2015. In a way, my tattoos served as a daily reminder of affirmation.

'Without A Name' was first published in June 2012, in Label Me Latina/o: Special Edition: Latina Authors-Asserting Female Agency. Coincidentally, the artist of my first publication tattoo—Ernesto aka Et Tat Too who is currently a freelance tattoo artist in Austin, Texas—also did this one and other writing related images on my right arm. Most recently, 'Without A Name' was accepted in the 2016 In The Words of Womyn anthology, I guess might have to add another line somewhere..."

Sarah's aforementioned poem appears below:

Without a Name

I struggle with the woman you want me to be.
I struggle with the woman who is kept beneath.
I struggle with the woman I aspire to set free.

I struggle with the terms Mother, Chicana and Feminist.
Because I’m often judged for the seeds I lack to sow rather than the ones I have
cultivated and produced. I am a woman, I am Chicana, I am a Feminist, but I’m not the
traditional mother most have expected me to be. I am human, a community educator. I do
not need a literal term to define what I contribute to our world, I just need time to nurture
its existence and teach others to do the same.

I struggle with the woman you want me to be.
I struggle with the woman who is kept beneath.
I struggle with the woman I aspire to set free.

I struggle to be loved and let my love depend on someone else. My mother and
grandmother are both widows who have paved the road for my stubborn independence.
It’s the same independence that allows me to reach for my dreams while empowering
others to do the same. Don’t let this Aztec princess mislead you, I still long to share this
love with someone who understands my vision.

I struggle with the woman you want me to be.
I struggle with the woman who is kept beneath.
I struggle with the woman I aspire to set free.

I struggle with the idea that I’m not meant to indulge in my own sexuality.
Apparently, it’s not ladylike or part of my culture. As if passion could destroy my
reputation or ancestral being. In the loudest of all life orgasms, passion in all its forms
and origins has led my life to higher ground! It is my bodily curves, cultural will and
inherited free spirit that continue to remind me of what I am and represent. I am a woman
of Mexican heritage with the freedom to demand human rights! And if I have to disrobe
my identity before you, to help you understand, then, I stand naked and without a name.
See me for what I am, not for what you think I ought to be.

I struggle with the woman you want me to be.
I struggle with the woman who is kept beneath.
I struggle with the woman I aspire to set free.

~ ~ ~

Sarah Rafael García is a writer, community educator and traveler. Since publishing Las Niñas, she founded Barrio Writers and obtained a M.F.A. in Creative Writing. Her writing has appeared in LATINO Magazine, Contrapuntos III, Outrage: A Protest Anthology For Injustice in a Post 9/11 World, La Tolteca Zine, Lumen Magazine, among others and her piece "Without A Name" is forthcoming in the 2016 In The Words of Womyn anthology.

Thanks to Sarah for sharing her tattoo and poem with us here on Tattoosday's Tattooed Poets Project!

This entry is ©2016 Tattoosday. The poem and tattoo are reprinted with the poet's permission.

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