This Saturday I was invited to the 3rd Africania colloquium, an event held to celebrate the legacy of African culture in the Caribbean, especially in Cuba. It is no secret that Caribbean culture draws heavily from its African roots to shape many of its most striking elements.
On this occasion I was invited to read one of my poems that in one way or another touches on this phenomenon, adding to its impact on modernity and how migration now from another perspective influences our own culture.
The poem:
The red-haired grandparents:
Europeans live in the future, our parks are in 2153.
In this time, Dante's language will narrate the damned tragedy.
While our nephews and grandchildren tell of their ancestors with black hands and deny those with black hands.
Between nostalgia and disgust, their twenty-something parents will remember their godfathers/lovers who took them out of poverty and innocence.
That ochre color will have disappeared and other lovers/godfathers will return to our jungle.
Now, in search of Bella Donnas not so mulattoes who serve coffee and pastries.
My intervention was accompanied by the touches of the folkloric group Folkloyumas who through their interpretation of the purest Cuban ruba added a greater layer of meaning to both the reading and the moment itself. Then they went on to give the recognitions for the scientific studies on the subject carried out during the year. To close in a masterful way with the intervention of the poet and host of the event Ericka Castellanos.
Without a doubt an incredible experience that I hope to repeat next year, a unique way to reconnect with the cultural roots that in one way or another are part of my identity.
