Dos Patrias
—after José Martí
by Robert Américo Esnard
I have two homelands: Cuba and the night
the policeman threatened to shoot me
in the street under the dark sky.
I was only trying to make it home.
The policeman threatened to shoot me
because there was a blockade I asked to pass.
I was only trying to make it home
to eat something and find my medicine.
Because there was a blockade, I asked to pass.
I learned uniforms are for violence, not to help us
to eat something and find medicine.
It is easier to have power over the hungry and sick.
Violence is uniform, I learned. To help the US
to control Cuba, the military used a blockade.
It is easier to have power over the hungry and sick.
It is a fact even the revolutionaries know.
The Cuban military used a blockade to control
their own people: to seize and to censor,
it is a fact. Even the revolutionaries know
the power of reverence and deference.
To seize and to censor their own people
the US gave those who execute the law
the power of reverence and deference,
an air of heroism, like revolutionaries.
Those who execute us give the law
little thought. The uniform protects with
an air of heroism. Like revolutionaries,
anyone can claim to speak for the people.
Uniform attacks with little thought.
I have no allegiance to a policeman with a gun.
Anyone can claim to speak for the people.
We spoke together, in protest, chanting.
I have no allegiance to a policeman with a gun.
I have two homelands: Cuba and the night
we spoke together, in protest, chanting
in the street under the dark sky.
Robert Américo Esnard was born and raised in the Bronx, NY. He studied Linguistics and Cognitive Science at Dartmouth College. His work has been published by, or is forthcoming in, Alternating Current, Alternative Field, Cutbank, Glass, Lunch Ticket, New York Quarterly, and several anthologies.
