Morena

Photo: Unsplash

The term Morena in the Philippines is used to describe Filipino women with darker skin tones. Its connotations have changed over time but in a society that has the mindset that lighter skin is beautiful so deeply ingrained in it with ads of lightening soaps and lotions and pills screaming at you from left and right at a young age, it was hard to feel pretty when I would be called morena.

This poem is about a moment I shared with my lola (grandma) that changed the meaning of morena for me. She didn’t remember this conversation when I asked her about it years later, but this specific interaction was the start of self-acceptance for me.

When I was a little girl I remember running up to lola asking why my skin looked so different than the other girls. She said,

“My dear, you have so much warmth inside your soul that the sun decided to love you just a little bit more.”

– Morena