Here I am

This is me,
My presence
my self defense.

 

Here I am

This is me,
With an aching glance,
With a mouth full of rage
With a forehead full of understanding.

 

Here I am

Here I am
With fight in the chest
resistance in the throat
And the skin open,
disposed
to the recognition of being.

 

Here it is
This, who I am
Here, my own self

Assert what you know
Like the bark of a tree
Or
Like a continent in the chest
As if the rivers and the roads became hair.
My hair, our hair,
Hair body and machete
Hair in the position of an attack.

 

My defense

My surrender

 

The Ancestors
present and future
carve our bodies from wood
Precious wood,
wood goddesses
Goddess Maria Lionza,
Goddess Anacaona

 

Here I am

This is me,
This is what I have,
here is my body,
Even though you can’t touch it!