{"id":799,"date":"2023-11-16T13:10:55","date_gmt":"2023-11-16T18:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/?page_id=799"},"modified":"2026-04-02T11:01:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T15:01:47","slug":"leila-torres-poetry","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/leila-torres-poetry\/","title":{"rendered":"Leila Torres"},"content":{"rendered":"

Distinguished Voices in Literature<\/span><\/h3>\n

Poetry Contest <\/strong>
\njudged by Benjamin Garcia, author of\u00a0Thrown in the Throat<\/em><\/p>\n

Finalist<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Speaking Honestly,<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve got the tendency to be overly cautious.
\nWhile having conversations I find myself tip toeing around cracks
\nto save my descendants’ spinal cords from disappointment.<\/p>\n

The value Piertorriue\u00f1os place in the ability to express yourself
\nweighs heavily on my shoulders-
\nI constantly catch myself forgetting to sit up straight.<\/p>\n

When I worry my words will come out jumbled,
\n—————–<\/span>the way most of my writing does
\nI think about the ones who understand,
\n—————–<\/span>my friend tells me she hates poetry but
\n—————–<\/span>“you’re the only person that can make me ‘get it'”
\nthey remind me to be proud of my mental
\ntreat its placement as a pedestal.<\/p>\n

So I try to realign my spine before I speak
\nand hope the change in elevation
\nwon’t make me dizzy enough to crash and crumble
\n___________<\/span>-mumble and stutter-
\nbecause when deciding to give up
\non the battle of explanation
\nthe eerie silence that comes
\nafter an unfinished thought
\nechoes through gun chambers,
\nleaving me hunched over in defeat.<\/p>\n

Bullets through thousands of back bones.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Leila Torres<\/strong> is a Cortland alumna with her Bachelor of Science in Psychology, and two minors in Professional Writing and Sociology. She enjoys learning about people through discovering the inner workings of fictional, but human, characters. Her hopes are that her work presents a blend of spooky and thought provoking themes for others to enjoy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Home<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Distinguished Voices in Literature Poetry Contest judged by Benjamin Garcia, author of\u00a0Thrown in the Throat Finalist Speaking Honestly, I’ve got the tendency to be overly cautious. While having conversations I find myself tip toeing around cracks to save my descendants’ spinal cords from disappointment. The value Piertorriue\u00f1os place in the ability to express yourself weighs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-799","page","type-page","status-publish","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/799\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/crystallize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}