Synergy

Sometimes, love has lost itself between borders and bridges—

While establishing deep connections.

Listening to my heart’s response, I drew lightly

Leaving spaces misty and undefined

As I danced in, around and

With-in my own power and privilege.

Layering my desires

And struggles

I still felt

Loss of identity. We are

Immigrants,

In-between.

Crossing borders of class and race

We delve deeper into this

creative catalytic space

of discourse.

Yet, counter-narratives that

Yield multiple layers of race

Unsettle emotional and cognitive barriers.

Inhabiting liminal space.

Border working

In a racialized society

gives landscapes a sense of place in ways that resonate with

Lived experiences.

And cultural traditions across time,

transcend

Loss and pain.

Pain and loss

were written into their histories along with pleasure,

Desire,

Wisdom,

Competence.

Papà me enseñas del amor y del dolor que hay en ella. [Papa, you taught me of love and the pain that exists in her.]

Translate . . . Represent

Transparency.

Through metaphor

Embrace the aesthetics of contradiction—

Performance

Gesture

Sound.

Installation

Or image

Assemblages transgress borders

In ways that are authentic and faithful,

Poetic counter-narratives.

“These words

are not yours

they belong to my

grandmother

father

brother

sister.”

Papà?

A digital masquerade of analog

Layers of nostalgia, denial, and ambiguity,

That’s what little selves are made of.

You, with your post-colonial thrust,

Emote a clarion call for critical, arts-based inquiry—rejoinders to neoliberal policies and pedagogy

You sly things,

You smug ones,

You think the battles have been fought

And WON.

As if it would be so easy . . .