Marielle grew up
in a slum and started work
when she was 11.
she needed to help
her family.
i know it is hard for you
to understand the idyosincracies
of my country.
i can't either.
when she was 18
she got pregnant,
i suppose
it is the law of common fate
here.
maybe it is written
in our collective unconscious.
jung can explain that.
Marielle was black,
poor and invisible
like you, you and
you too.
but we never know
when a lost bullet can
awake us.
Marielle was 19 when
life shot some truths at her,
killing her best friend
during a war between
drug traffickers and the police:
everything in the name
of a weird pacification.
(i see it is hard to comprehend
how violence can combat violence)
(...)
Marielle got a scholarship
to study sociology,
deviating from her possible destiny.
a master of words she was!
i remember she used to speak
in behalf of women, black people
and lgbt communities.
she was against everything
i am too.
she made me visible like you,
you
and you.
on march 14th,2018
Marielle was shot dead
and i cried alone
in the shower,
watching my beliefs
going down the drain
because i am getting tired,
because i am getting old
and nothing ever changes here.
some say
Marielle broke all barriers
as a black woman
in a poor country.
all i know is that
she made me believe
again.
she gave me hope
and a voice.
look at me now
tongue tied
and mutilated.
invisible again
like you, you
and you too.
karla bardanza
Rip Marielle
About Marielle Franco - https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/15/world/americas/killing-of-rio-de-janeiro-councilwoman-critical-of-police-rattles-brazil.html
