MUSES Poetry
Magari commissioned poetry from Amy Stapenhorst and Ernesto Garrido to accompany the concert’s diverse musical program
Read their work here.
To be a Woman
by Amy Stapenhorst
to be a woman is a question i may never find the answer to
but i know it is rooted in love
to be a woman is to be resilient
not to recoil from
the broken record of
look over here
hey pretty lady
blame it on her shorts blame it on her stomach blame it on her thighs blame it on
the parts you’re busy fixing making smaller bigger weaker whatever you desire
do you value me for my integrity or my proximity?
am i loved for my responsibility, i
take care of you i protect your ego
as a mother or sister or daughter or partner or stranger
i make myself small
or can i be loved for my divinity: my ability to
fight for the lives i create
fight for the lives you take
to fight these battles in a space not designed for me
but
gladly i fight: for the relationships i sustain, the bonds i form
with childhood friends or strangers in the bar bathroom who compliment my shoes and cover my drink
we sing and shout our stories, our struggles and our triumphs
with unwavering joy and hope and frustration and exhaustion
we are generous. we are hardened.
we are rooted in all things and those roots give us strength
our strength makes us divine
our power gives us strength
to be a woman is a question i may never find the answer to
but i am a phenomenal woman
i am rooted in all things, but most of all, love
Caña, Coño!
by Ernesto Garrido
You can’t always feel your feet
Fleeing far from home
The same way my steps imprinted on my island
The same way she did me
Through my blood flows the tropics
Reminding me
That in my very reflection there are hints of Havana
With my guarapo stained fingertips
I rub open my eyes
To expose my cuban coffee tinted sight
And I see
In the brink of the darkest night
Skin, restrained,
That carries the passion of the Caribbean sun
I,
We,
Speak words to dance to
Remind us that though the sun sets on blistered hands
Our sugar cane is still sweet
Reminds us that though our distant neighbor lies
Empty stomach
Still
Heart full
Remind us, that it won't always be this way.
Until then the hummingbirds come to whisper stories of a new land
Like ours,
With different arms in power
That will shower
Us
With the joy we still share with each other
Asylum Sealegs
Butterfly jasmine
Long lost at sea, she looks out
Hoping you'll come home.
