I am from....

Written 06-06-14

I am from
the gleam in my father's eyes
my mother's bowed head

I am from his sermons
her torn vagina

I am from his hope
her rage

I am from
the Tainas
who drowned their babies
The Tainos who hanged themselves
from trees

I am from the Tainos
who fought back
the cimarrones
who ran into the mountains

I am from Marti
with the ball chained to his ankle
Marti lighting uprisings
with his words
Marti riding wounded on his horse

I am from
Albizu in the prison cell
from Marx
on his elbows
thinking as hard as a man can think

I am from the thoughts that save our life

I am from Fidel in La Sierra
Lolita in the Congress

I am from
the clan of the undefeated
the victors
who make the deaths worhwhile

I am
from the inventors of the cachumbambe
of a la rueda rueda
of the rumba and the chachacha

I am
from singing in the dark

I am from the gleam in my father's eye
the smallest of my mother's smiles

I am from all of us

a conspirator of hope