Alternate Roots

"Alternate Roots"
by Jose (Daniel) Canta
spoken word poet from Richmond, VA

Our soil has been stained by the blood of our people
There we plant the seeds of our children
Their roots are soaked in the memories –

Christopher Columbus,

The United Fruit Company,

Dictators supported by the CIA

Their branches will bear no fruit
Only empty mitayo 1 hands covered in tin and mercury
Some holding machine guns pointed at other trees that look the same
From their trunks bleed sap from which North Americans will make
Tires and fake breasts
These trees will cry The Song of the Barren Orange Tree 2

Some trees will uproot themselves and find their way North,
Nueva York, Chicago, Miami
There their roots will bleed and grate short on concrete,
thirsting for soil
They will pray to the Virgin Mary but
their branches will bear the same mitayo hands
Only this time
They will carry mops and construction tools instead
They will sweat and toil in the name of their children
But those tiny seeds will also suffer and
squirm like fish out of water,
Trying to find ocean

I was one of those seeds fortunate enough to find alternate roots
Buried them in the rich soil of Eduardo Galeano,
Watered them with the metaphors of Neruda,
Fertilized them with Octavio Paz’s magic
My branches grow strong, warrior hands that write poems like mangos,
succulent and juicy,
waiting for children to feast on so that they too can spill truth
from their mouths.
From our barks the cries of Tupac Amaro will explode
Popping the eardrums of politicians in Arizona
And letting this world know that we are awakening.

1. A mitayo is an Indian who pays a mita or tribute, usually in the form of forced labor in public works, especially in the mines.
2. Reference to poem by Federico Garcia Lorca
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Jose (Daniel) Canta is a new member of ROOTS who will be
performing at this year's Annual Meeting.  We asked Daniel to contribute
a poem for the June newsletter in honor of the NALAC partnership
and to express what he thought would be the most relevant themes for our
discussion at the AM.