One of the most preeminent and internationally successful Cuban
poets today. Growing up within Cuba's revolutionary process,
she became the first widely published black woman poet in Cuba ,
winning prizes in Cuba and internationally for her work. As a Cuban
revolutionary and poet, she is known for celebrating women and
blackness in her poems.
Black Man
Your hair
some said,
was the devil's work from hell;
but the hummingbird built
her nest there, never hesitating'
as you dangled on high from the beam,
in front of the palace
of the captains.
They said, yes, dust from the road
made you disloyal and blue-black,
like those winter flowers
from teh tropics, always
so astonishing and haughty.
Now as you are dying
they suspect that your smile was salty
and your moss too soft for the act of love.
Others assert that your sticks and branches
brought us this shawdowy damage
which keeps us from shining in the eyes of Europe
and thrusts us into the ritual whirlpool,
into that impossible rhythm
of unnamable drums.
We will love forver
the mark you've left on us and your bronze spirit
becuase ou brought that vibrant light from the past blowing by,
that pain of having entered the battle pure of heart,
that honest fondness for bells and rivers,
that whisper of breath set free in the spring,
that races to the sea, comes back,
then sets off again.
