This new year, I have vowed not to keep secrets. To be shameless in my writing and in order to do that properly I needed to reclaim my space to speak, to write, be poetic, be Mala as I reenter single mami’hood and start fresh pero with old knowledge guiding me.

I sucked it up, faced my fear of tech, and purchased my own hosting space and here is Mamita Mala’s new blog casita.

Originally I was at MamitaMala.com pero I didn’t have control over much of the backend. I created a temporary exile tent city.

Recreate with me. Reinvent. Revolutionize, welcome.

Oh and please be patient as I mess with the sidebars, add links, change headers, etc. I am a poet who blogs, not a blogger who does poetry.

I feel like I’ve been living in borrowed space, borrowed time with borrowed people for a little bit now. It’s been a week or so since I’ve been locked out of my online casita, MamitaMala. It’s funny. I was Mamita Mala before I was a blogger and yet, blogging and the community carved from it, has been unbelievably important, full of impact and implications. So, call me an addict for missing the blog as an outlet, but it really is an extension of myself and my life reaching in and then out.

So the chica, who struggles with the desire for home and homeland, the mujer who fights against borders, outlines and claims another space, an tent city for my exiled words, aqui.

It feels a little silly, the attention paid to the details here. The dark colors reflecting my morning/mourning mood this morning and now the meticulously designed banner courtesy of Xolagrafik , (mil gracias Nezua for capturing) reflecting the Nuyorican poeta/puta. All this for a home that is not permanant, pero rather an in between space.

Pero it makes sense. It reflects my in between heart that knows where it wants to be but has a long way to go to get there.

So si, bienvenida to the neon lit ciudad until it too, burns away.