Poem "Fed Up!" by
Allison Francis
Chaminade University

I am so tired of
    being

blonde/indian/cinnamon
negrita/burnt/yellow/pig-skinned
blanco/or just damned   blank!

Too tired to be
    disenfranchised  disempowered
    dispossessed of my human rights.

Shall I claim you as Sista

    across Carolingo Codes  saltwater
    routes  transnational divides
    within the ethno-feminist geographies
    of my mind?

Lord knows

I am Fed Up!  Fed Up!  Fed Up
 with little action in a conscious time.

Fed Up!  Fed Up! Fed Up
with not knowing how to name that which comes before.

Fed Up!  Fed Up!  I am so
Fed Up with consciousness without a woman's rhyme.

You say     Fed Up! Fed Up! Fed Up!
Fed Up! Free Up! Free Up!  Free Us! Now!

Together we is gonna dismantle the master's
house with those tools hidden inside
our Big Mouths.

Allison e. Francis
Poem-in-progress conceived and performed
at the Global Women's Movements seminar-FRN 2007 New York, New York, 14 June 2007

_________________________________

Poema "Americus"
by Roystone Martínez
Emmanuel College

I am saddened by the inadequacies
Brought forth by the educational
System that continues o striate
And create social caste systems

I am saddened by the Ignorance
That is used as a crutch to scaffold
Pre-existing notions of what is
And what is not

I am saddened by the Insolence
Of intolerant drones who disguise
Their insecurities in a shield of
Rational and so called conviction

I am saddened that in the midst of
And in between all of the rhetoric
Dies the livelihood of children and
There willingness to thrive

I am angered by the situations that
Have inhibited the proliferation of
Equal rights of living as a human
Being relegated to merely existing

I am angered that the complacency
Of hundreds of people in the system
Has continued to run the well oiled
Machine brought forth by colonialism

I am angered that Racism, 1670 miles
Away from the United States, continues
To dictate, mandate, and mutate the lives
Of African people in developing countries

I am angered that my words may not
Be understood in the context of
Erudition and academe due to the
Tone and sting of what I am saying

I am hopeful that through the festering
Disease infested riles of human existence
Springs the birth of thought and dreams
That will soon be realized and nourished

I am hopeful that pictures will be able to
Encapsulate the essence of this experience
So that you can hear, see, and listen to
The images better than my words can say

I am hopeful that one day some child that
I have encountered in the America´s will
Grow up to become the change that I won't
Be able to see…but will see in spirit

I am hopeful about the life and strength
That is afforded me in all facets of my
Being, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual
I live life because I have American roots

Yet, I see through the eyes of
My blood flows through my veins as
I believe in the eradication of systematic
Abuse of any child of the world

Copyright © 2007 - RJM

Poema de Gloria Anzaldúa

"Because I, a mestiza,
continually walk out of 
one culture and into another,
because I am in all cultures 
at the same time,
alma entre dos mundos, 
tres, cuatro,
me zumba la cabeza 
con lo contradictorio.
Estoy norteada por 
todas las voces
que me hablan
simultáneamente."

"Porque yo, una mestiza,
continúamente camino
de una cultura en otra,
porque estoy en todas
las culturas
al mismo tiempo,
soul between two worlds,
three, four,
my head spins around
with contradictions.
I am 'northed' by
all the voices 
that speak to me 
simultaneously."

Gloria Anzaldúa, excerpt 
from La Conciencia de la 
Mestiza: Towards a New Consciousness.
(Translation by 
Karin Weyland).

Poema de María Teresa Fernández

"What does it mean 
to live in between
What does it take to realize
that being Boricua
is a state of mind
a state of heart
a state of soul...
No nací en Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico nació en mí!
Mira a mi cara Puerto-
rriqueña 
Mi pelo vivo
Mis manos trigueña
Mira a mi corazón que se 
llena de orgullo 
Y dime que no soy Boricua."
María Teresa Fernández

¿Qué significa vivir 
en el borde?
¿Qué hace falta para 
darse cuenta que un Boricua
es un estado mental
un estado del corazón
un estado del alma...
I was not born in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico was born in me!
Look at my PuertoRican face
My live hair
My hand trigueñas
Look at my heart that 
fill ups with pride
And tell me that I am
not Boricua."

(Traducción de 
Karin Weyland)
 

Poema por Jemise Ray 

Ah que linda esa bebé
Y muy negra
Mi mamá no dijo nada
Ah verdad que si, dijo mi abuela
que linda esa bebe
y muy negra
Si muy negra, muy ne____
(mi mamá interrumpió)

Okay mi niña es negra y mía
No hay una diferencia entre ella y su hermana
No quiere que hagas una diferencia entre las dos
Si no puedes hacer eso, no tengo que traerlas aquí

Entonces, desde mi niñez, surgió la idea de que ser clara es ser bella y ser negra no lo es
las barbies negras, comentarios positivos sobre mi cabello de parte de mis padres
No podrían salvarme del mundo y cuando cumplí 12 años,
corrí al salón,
esperé en una cola larga
para cambiar mi pelo crespo por pelo liso
Y así comienzo a darme cuenta de mi belleza.

Aunque estoy a kilómetros del país mío,
Un mundo fuera de las costumbres de mi abuela,
me hallé que los pensamintos sobre el pelo no han cambiado

Pero aquí, en vez de los pensamientos silenciosos, la gente los grita en voz alta

Que pelo feo! Arréglalo!

O en una conversación casual en casa de una parturienta dice

Que lástima que sus bebé salió con pelo feo

Supe inmediatamente que la enfermedad que tenemos en Alabama es la misma que sufren algunos dominicanos/as.

Existe una medicina que tiene el poder de aplastar ésta manera de pensar y curarnos de ésta enfermedad?

Por Jemise Ray 
(gracias a Blas Jiménez, autor de "Aquí hay otro español, a mis padres y a Goody Mob por su cancón "Beautiful Skin")
 

Email us (escríbenos):  

kweyland@gmail.com
 

Web Page's copyrights
Fundación melassa

Página realizada por Karin 
Weyland,  l@s jóvenes de 
Mata Los Indios en los Talleres 
de Melassa y Aníbal Carlo, estudiante de la Universidad de Puerto Rico-Recinto Río Piedras.

Page done by Karin Weyland, youth in Mata Los Indios in the workshops 
organized by Melassa and Aníbal Carlo, student from the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras Campus.

Copyright @ Melassa 2007