The Santa Ana Literary Association will be presenting a new poem by a local poet every week this year. This week’s poem is “History” by Liliana G. Montes de Oca:

I am not me.
I am everyone in my life.
Those who passed and came,
I am part of them.

I flirt with my eyes like a friend once did,
I think twice about what I say
Because I have seen my mother cry.

I carry fragments of those in my life,
Sometimes without knowing it.

They are all part of me.
And when you say that you love me,
You are loving them,
Their presence in me.

You love the history of me.

Liliana G Montes de Oca was born and raised in San Diego and moved to Orange County in 2016 to finish her undergraduate degree in English at the University of California Irvine. Storytelling is something that has always been a big part of her life, which she always tries to incorporate in her various jobs, from being an instructor to her most current job at the Disneyland Resort. Liliana is currently a few semesters away from completing her Masters in Creative Writing and when she is not writing she spends her time studying languages. She is currently working on putting together her first collection of poems.