My work centers on prose and lyrical poetry surrounding diasporic Central American narratives. I explore the stories of my family and their surrounding communities. Focusing on the loss, familial separation, colonization, and displacement that have occurred under the various adiministrations from Reagan through to Trump, my work investigates the first-hand effects of US intervention, immigrant journeys, generational trauma, and community resilience. “Cortex” is part of a cycle of poems written during the election season of 2024. The poems aim to understand the connection between longing and homesickness in times of explicit racism and bias. What does the diaspora call home in times like these?