Three poems: "yo soy", "madre mar", and "pathology" by Sofía Friedmanyo soy frijoles as face paint smeared on as an act of war of pride of cultural dysphoria twenty two years of tightrope walking between centro and norte between mis antepasados and my future between américa the land of mangos and machismo of caderas and cervezas and america the land of opportunity and oppression of dreams and disappointments here at “home” rhythm and groove are met with wide eyes and clueless glances fist pumps and stiff jumps disguised as dance don’t speak the language that my hips do that las caderas de mis antepasados hablaron aquí en mi país my feet crunch piles of pine needles and palm fibers withered broken lifeless from the violent footsteps that came before of sandinistas of somoza censorship of american occupation of culturally clueless tourists but out of these piles baskets are born new livelihoods are created women and weaving a match made in mesoamérica they weave to reclaim their hands from men and misogyny to communicate with craft across time and space to make their fingers dance once again to el ritmo del pueblo pine needles and palm fibers promote production provide payment protest poverty or so they say baskets brought to market living, breathing symbols of mi identidad mi historia mi cultura but this cultural umbilical cord will soon be severed dollares in exchange for days of work and lifetimes of tradition a newborn basket will be brought “home” to be exalted and sensationalized on a gringo’s shelf oohs and ahhs disguised as cultural competency don’t speak the language that my fingers do que las manos de mis antepasadas hablaron i am of centro and i am of norte yo soy madre mar the water calls me babbling beckoning she invites me in with a gentle wave and a briny hug you are safe here my mother calls me crying gasping for air she’s gone she’s gone she’s gone i dive to escape to find that heaviness consumes me what a relief salt creeps in to each and every crevice i sting with the harsh purity of existence i choke back tears i scream can you hear me winged creatures drown me out with their well-rehearsed repertoires madre mar i fill her with my tears she roars with a ferocity that only comes from mourning the loss of a creature so pure earthbound no longer she returns to her final resting place in the open arms of the mother who bore her who gifted her a connection with the earth so strong that the madre herself weeps alongside me for the woman with the sunshine eyes pathology who decided that a path was better than pathlessness an existence of adventure of liberation freedom to roam, wander, and explore as we please aren’t you bored of suffocating in a world so dangerously addicted to order predictability schedules and success what is success if not joy fulfillment freedom reaped from talking to strangers cooking a new recipe and taking care of yourself who decided i have to choose my future before i’ve even chosen a major who said i can’t be a chef a poet a changemaker all at once let us overthrow the yoke of expectation the shackles of degree planning there is room in our bodies and our world for us to be whole and no test or paycheck can take that away own it live it breathe it stomp your feet take up space on these long winding imperfect infinite paths bury me on the path of pathlessness so my remains may nurture the fertile soil and seeds out of which grow the next generation of warriors pioneers rebels who want nothing to do with this path of yours who cannot be confined by your box but rather explode out of it with such fiery force and passion and purpose your parasitic predictable power-hungry capitalist system won’t know what to do with it all we are superheroes in our own right we are the revolution Sofía Friedman is a recent graduate of Tufts University of Nicaraguan and Peruvian descent. She double majored in Civic Studies and Middle Eastern Studies with a minor in Social Justice Anthropology. She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and currently lives in Washington D.C. She is published in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum library and has self-published a number of poems and creative non-fiction pieces. In her free time, she loves to read, listen to Bad Bunny, spend time in nature, and travel.
2 Comments
Letzbia Martinez
12/3/2022 10:36:20 am
Sofía Friedman. What a taleted girl. Keep it up. It is a joy to read her poems. There is a lot of pasión un what she write
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Esperanza Acosta
12/7/2022 05:46:53 am
Es un placer y un orgullo leer este tipo de poesía en jóvenes talentos orgullosos de sus raíces latinas y que valoran y exaltan todo el menaje cultural, valiente y sufrido, mártir y héroe de miles de batallas de sus ancestros. Muchos éxitos para Sofía ( La que tiene sabiduría ) y que nunca pierda ese amor y ese orgullo por sus raíces... son las raíces las que mantienen al árbol con vida...
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