BIO
Enrique García Naranjo is a poet, performer and pocho from Tucson, Arizona. He is a Tucson Youth Poetry Slam alumnus, a Spoken Futures INC staff member and a Davis-Putter Scholarship Fund grantee. In 2014, García Naranjo published his debut collection of poetry, Tortoise Boy Says (Spoken Futures 2014). His work has been published by and included in SandScript: Art & Literary Magazine, Transcendence Magazine, Sunday Kinfolk and more. Currently, García Naranjo is writing new poems and crate digging for records to sample.
Follow his work at Pochismo.weebly.com
Muxeres
for Leilani
For centuries, la lucha has been
bloody & tragic, pero even
in the face of travesty, there
have been those who dared to
sing these words:
Amor, esperanza, dignidad.
These words have been given to me.
The histories of courageous men,
who have sacrificed so I could sing,
are engraved in the stones of our shrines.
But, what of the women?
Las muxeres, Brown
& beautiful.
Las muxeres, dignas
& diligent.
In the dream of absolute liberation,
these words are for the women
of la Raza, the women
who have raised & loved me,
the women who we must
honor & praise.
Para las muxeres who have
worked as hard as any
man under the sun.
Para las muxeres who curse
& love & hurt in
the same breath,
who remember
to live on
with heads high
& drumming hearts.
Para las muxeres
holy & unholy,
que ni son santas,
ni putas,
solo muxeres.
Chicanas, Mexicanas,
Pochas, Morenas, Negras,
Güeras, Mestizas, Latinas,
Queer & Transgendered;
las muxeres who
cultivate the love
of our people y las mujeres
quien se quedan desprietas
so we can sleep & dream.
We must celebrate our heroines but
hold accountable our men—
my brothers & fathers,
for their words & actions.
In the dream of absolute liberation,
we must wake up & acknowledge
la causa cannot be placed over anyone,
si no, it must serve the people holding it up.
In the dream of absolute liberation
& in the wake of revolution,
these words are not for me, si no,
para mis hermanos, who need to hear them,
y para mis hermanas, who need to know
their fathers, their brothers, their lovers,
their allies are here to stand with them.
¡Ya basta con el machismo!
¡Ya basta con sexual & domestic violence!
¡Ya basta con estupideces!
¡Que siga nuestra lucha!
¡Que viva la Muxer!