A poem-a-day protest against the threat posed to our democracy by the current occupant of the White House
Emanuel Xavier
Here We Will Stay
We were never meant to belong,
pero aquí estamos—
brown hands, queer hearts,
ghosts of ancestors whispering from las esquinas
where our names have been erased.
Another wall, another ban,
another law written in white ink
with the blood of those
who were never meant to matter.
Our grandparents’ tongues
stumble on the lips of children,
but still, they dream,
despite the cages, despite the bullets,
despite gods who never listen.
And when they scream, Go back!
dime, ¿back a dónde?
Al Bronx, a El Paso, a San Juan,
to a map that never claimed us
but never let us go.
They hold la biblia
like a blade,
like a border, like a brand.
God, but only theirs,
To justify el odio.
Still, we remain,
glitter on our faces,
con uñas pintadas,
con tattoos y resistencia.
They cannot silence us,
because we have learned
to carve poetry from el silencio,
to turn our broken Spanglish
into a weapon
más fuerte que su miedo.
We are still here.
Y aquí nos quedaremos.
Emanuel Xavier is the author of seven poetry collections. His most recent, Love(ly) Child (Rebel Satori Press, 2023) was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for gay poetry and was awarded the Silver Medal in the Juan Felipe Herrera Best Poetry Book Award category at the International Latino Book Awards. Xavier’s cult novel Christ Like (originally published by Painted Leaf Press in 1999 and reissued by Rebel Satori Press on its Queer Mojo imprint in 2009) was groundbreaking in its portrayal of a young gay Latino’s immersion in the downtown club scene of the 1990s. He has edited several poetry anthologies, including Mariposas: A Modern Anthology of Queer Latino Poetry (Floricanto Press, 2008). His poems have appeared in numerous journals, as well as in Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology, Edited by Rigoberto González. Xavier serves on the Board of The Publishing Triangle and is currently working on a memoir and a screenplay based on Christ Like. His honors include the Marsha A. Gomez Cultural Heritage Award, a New York City Council Citation, and a Gay City News Impact Award.
[The poet provided a considerably more concise and modest bio; I expanded it. —Ed.]
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