Valediction

Clench your fists and
declare your right on this earth
as you spit the unnamed things
of yesterday:
you are black panthers,
you are the voice forgotten in my ears
for years,
for years.

take off your skin
and remove resignation
from your organs
and mind.
we are what we seek
and find,
we are the force
beneath the apples.

can you hear our voices rising?
i am still angry because
they've only offered us their laughter,
because my heart expands
and clashes before the end,
before the other.

we are so heavy,
so full of backward countries
growing inside
and as we give birth
to another Che's quote,
we stop suffering peacefully
but we can't move yet.

yes, you are right:
my religion is my country.
a bullet missed me
(you remember that, don't you?)
and i'm still breathing for us
so stand up
and fall as many times
as you can
but fight over and over again.
not for us,
but for the panther sleeping within,
for the panther bred with apples and iron.

karla bardanza