Welcome to SWWIM Every Day’s preview coverage of Miami Book Fair (MBF) 2021! The poets whose work you’ll be reading every weekday from October 25 through November 12 are just a few of the many authors from around the world participating in this year’s MBF, the nation’s largest gathering of writers and readers of all ages. They all look forward to sharing their work, thoughts, and ideas both in person and online. Between November 14 and November 21, new poet conversations and readings will be launched and available for free on miamibookfaironline.com (in addition to other content). For more information, visit the website and follow MBF on Instagram and Twitter at @miamibookfair and use the hashtag #miamibookfair2021.
The March I am about to step outside, I am about to step outside to the elements and my anticipation is a long inhalation that covers the world upon release. This is the beginning of a movement based on facts and not on sentiment or pronouncements, though both sentiment and pronouncements are useful and worthy. As I begin to lift my left foot, my sartorius muscle allows my knee to move up towards my body. I am joined by others, however they can join with me, others who have suffered and are not afraid to continue suffering. What we seek is a new majority rooted in justice for all whose conscience is committed to ceasing wrongs and doing right. What we want is nothing about us without us. What we want is for each individual to define their own identity and expect that society will respect them. We shift our weight, unlock our knees. Arrange our bodies in the best way for each of us. For an instant, most of us are standing on one foot. We are not in a hurry. We are not dreaming. We are ready to give up everything, even our lives. We shall do it without violence because that is our conviction. What we want is freedom, what we want is the power to determine our destiny. As my left foot comes down, it is coordinated with my right and they match the equivalent movement of those who have joined me, and with whom I am joining. We are firmly rooted. Whenever possible, we let our limbs swing in a natural motion and keep our heads facing forward. What we want is the complete elimination of military forces, not just from this or that territory, but from every corner, every outpost, on earth. What we want is full and meaningful employment. What we want is decent, safe housing. What we want is an education that teaches us our true histories and their consequences on the present. As each of us lifts our right foot (or makes the equivalent movement to ambulate), we are now a perfectly synchronized force, even in our differences and occasional disorder. What we want is an immediate stop to state brutality and the assassination of black people, and native people, and disabled people, and queer people and trans people, and women, and children, and mothers and fathers who can only do so much because they are shackled by the very state that seeks to kill them for having foolishly believed they were free. What we want are the doors flung open to Folsom, Riker’s, Guantánamo, San Quentin, San Juan de Lurigancho, ADX Florence Supermax, La Sabaneta, Attica, Camp 22, Pollsmoor. It would be fatal to overlook the urgency of the moment. As we advance, we are a thunderous thrum. Some of us will run under the rain in Seattle, and toward traffic to block Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. Others will flood Wall Street and more will storm the port of Oakland. There will be one lonely soul in snowy Bethel, Alaska, and clusters in Little Rock, in sweltering Ferguson, in Tallahassee and Flagstaff, Baltimore, Detroit, Honolulu, Boise, in ancient Salem, Wichita and Northampton, Oklahoma City and Spearfish, South Dakota. Nerve and muscle adapt to the rhythmic stimulus of our own noise, the noise we make together. It is true that when in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one person to connect to another and another and another in order to defend our equality, our difference, our dependence on one another, then Le marcha Estoy a punto de salir, estoy a punto de salir a les elementos y mi anticipación es une largue inhalación que cubre le mundo tras soltarse. Este es le comienzo de une movimiento basado en hechos y no en sentimientos o pronunciamientos, aunque ambes sentimientos y pronunciamientos son útiles y dignes. Cuando empiezo a levantar mi pie izquierde, mi músculo sartorio permite que mi rodilla se mueva hacia mi cuerpo. Me acompañan otres, no obstante pueden unirse conmigo otres que han sufrido, y que no tienen miedo de seguir sufriendo. Le que buscamos es une nueve mayoría arraigada a le justicia para todes aquelles cuya conciencia está comprometide a poner fin a le mal y hacer le bien. No queremos nada sobre nosotros sin nosotros. Le que queremos es que cada individuo defina su propia identidad y pueda tener le expectativa de que le sociedad le respete. Desplazamos nuestro peso, desbloqueamos nuestres rodillas. Disponemos nuestres cuerpos de le mejor manera para cada une de nosotres. Por une instante, le mayoría de nosotres estamos parades sobre une pie. No tenemos prisa. No estamos soñando. Estamos dispuestes a renunciar a todo, incluso a nuestres vidas. Le haremos sin violencia porque ese es nuestre convicción. Le que queremos es libertad, le que queremos es le poder para determinar nuestre destino. Mientras mi pie izquierde baja, está coordinado con mi dereche y coinciden con le movimiento equivalente de aquelles que se han unido a mí, y a les que me estoy uniendo. Estamos firmemente arraigades. Siempre que sea posible, dejamos que nuestres miembres se muevan de manera natural y mantenemos nuestres cabezas hacia adelante. Le que queremos es le eliminación complete de les fuerzas militares, no sólo de este o aquelle territorio, sino de todes les rincones, de todes les puestos fronterizes, sobre le tierra. Le que queremos es trabajo plene y significative. Le que queremos son viviendas decentes y segures. Le que queremos es une educación que nos enseñe nuestres verdaderes historias y sus consecuencias sobre le presente. A medida que cada une de nosotres levanta le pie dereche (o hace le movimiento paralele para moverse), ahora somos une fuerza perfectamente sincronizade, incluse en nuestres diferencias y desorden ocasional. Le que queremos es une detención inmediate de le brutalidad estatal y le asesinato de les negres, y les indígenes, y les personas discapacitades y les personas trans, y las mujeres, y les niñes, y las madres y los padres que sólo pueden hacer ese tanto porque están encadenades por le mismo estado que busca matarles por haber creído absurdamente que eran libres. Le que queremos son les puertas abiertas a Folsom, Riker, Guantánamo, San Quintín, San Juan de Lurigancho, ADX Florencia Supermax, La Sabaneta, Attica, Campamento 22, Pollsmoor. Sería fatal pasar por alto le urgencia de le momento. A medida que avanzamos, somos une ruido de trueno. Algunes de nosotres correrán bajo le lluvia en Seattle, y hacia le tráfico para bloquear Lake Shore Drive en Chicago. Otres inundarán Wall Street y otres más serán une tormenta en le puerto de Oakland. Habrá une alma solitarie en le nevade Bethel, Alaska, y une puñado en Little Rock, en le sofocade Ferguson, en Tallahassee y Flagstaff, Baltimore, Detroit, Honolulu, Boise, en le antigua Salem, Wichita y Northampton, Oklahoma City y Spearfish en Dakota de le Sur. Le nervio y le músculo se adaptan a le estímulo rítmique de nuestre propie ruido, le ruido que hacemos juntes. Es cierto que cuando en le transcurso de les acontecimientos humanes se hace necesarie que une persona se conecte a otre, y a otre, y a otre para defender nuestre igualdad, nuestre diferencia, nuestre dependencia le une del otre, entonces
Achy Obejas is a Cuban-American writer, translator, and activist whose work focusing on personal and national identity has appeared in Prairie Schooner, Fifth Wednesday Journal, TriQuarterly, Another Chicago Magazine, and many other publications. A native of Havana, she currently lives in the San Francisco Bay area.
Credit: Excerpted from Boomerang/Bumerán by Achy Obejas (Beacon Press 2021). Reprinted with permission from Beacon Press.
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