MicMas Remix

.pr event: DE AQUÍ, DE ALLÁ

Had the honor of doing spoken word to the spiritual rhythm of with the dancer’s graceful moves inside an art installation representing a tarped roof after hurricane Maria.🌺

This poem is dedicated to all the people who inspired me: my sons, .pr .apiario and so many others who I’ve had the honor of protesting with, giving back to the community and learning from in Puerto Rico.

DE AQUÍ, DE ALLÁ

Here I was unspoken
observing
writing things down
not yet ready to be heard

I found my voice aquí
and made it louder allá

I kept returning

Something about the island
doesn’t ask politely

It pulls
It shakes
It says

Speak.

Puerto Rico felt like home
before I ever lived there

I had already seen it
And then I was living it

Standing inside resilience
when we should have had stability

Lights would go out
and we would wait

water would stop
and still
we would wait

We waited
for something stronger

something steady

something that wouldn’t make us disappear

We waited for so long
it turned into a scream

Ricky renuncia
Abolish Ley 22
Las playas son del pueblo

And the streets answered back
louder than fear
louder than doubt
louder than me

And still
I stayed inside that sound

I heard myself in the drum
before I had words for it

something older than language
moving through me

calling me back
to roots I was still learning to name

De aquí
De allá

Allá
I became

not alone
but surrounded

by people who build
by people who fight
by people who create
even when things fall apart

people who opened me
to the way the island speaks
and how to make something out of nothing

Feet in dirt
moving with intention

Not just for me
but for us

Not just for now
but for what comes after

Patria is what I carry

De aquí
De allá

Not split
Not half

I am the bridge

And every step
carries both

puertorico