FOR THE LATINX RESEARCH CENTER, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
Collectivity and New Horizons
In the following poems writers reflect on collectivity and imagine how our future will become
Yggdrasil
By Guillermo Mares Cervantes
HYPHY is being proud of oneself, not feeling like less
Up on the highest shelf, with no time to regress
Reassess. Find your own path to success
HYPHY is never leaving your homies depressed
Coalesce. Bind and redress the stress
Together we find the way out this mess
Progress.
HYPHY is cherishing your family and roots
Tending the tree leads to the sweetest of fruits
Youths. Forget the machismo, stop the cultural loops
Oops. The truth probably hurts
In groups. Let us work to reduce the abuse
Only then can we be proud, just like our zoot suits
And when times are hard
Stoop. Pull yourself up from the straps of your boots.
HYPHY is being brown or any shade
It is giving sombra to those in need of aid
Unpaid.
It is working hard so we never fade
Unafraid of the strongest grenade
Decayed.
Yet remade, of the highest grade.
One mighty brigade.
Circle of healing
By Steven Castañón
Heal your people.
Healing is having the house clean by the time my parents come home from their double shifts.
Healing is comforting my mother when my dad comes home drunk.
Healing is working with my dad.
Healing is getting a job so that my parents can worry less about bills.
Healing is being the best older brother I can be.
Healing is cooking meals for my baby brother and baby sister.
Healing is helping my little sister with her math homework.
Healing is taking my little brother to the gym with me so he can lose weight.
Healing is staying up all night playing Xbox with my little brother.
Healing is working my hardest so that I can end my family’s cycle of poverty.
Healing is working hard so that I can create generational wealth for my future family.
Healing is taking care of my family.
Heal yourself.
Healing is understanding that I don’t need to do anything on my own.
Healing is asking for help.
Healing is feeding my body.
Healing is feeding my brain.
Healing is feeding my spirit.
Healing is going to the gym at least two days a week.
Healing is going to bed on time.
Healing is sleeping in.
Healing is spending some time alone.
Healing is finding balance in my life.
Healing is understanding that everything is going to be ok.
Healing is understanding that I am enough.
Healing my Generation
By Aileen Magana
“Heal Your People, Heal Yourself,” now that’s where we should all start.
To start making a difference in a society where brown people are consistently being oppressed.
In a system that tries to look down on you for being “different.”
It’s forgetting about the negativity from my past and looking forward to a better future.
Whatever happened, I learned and grew from it.
It’s knowing that my family is safe and aren’t worried.
It’s about my sister recovering from addiction and receiving help for her mental health.
It’s about forgiving myself for not being perfect and knowing that it’s okay to make mistakes.
H.Y.P.H.Y. is about having a healthy mental and physical self.
Taking care of myself and knowing that it’s okay to take a break once in a while.
It’s about setting an example for my younger siblings, being a role model for future generations,
and making my hermanos y hermanas proud.
It’s about carrying the Mexican flag high up into the sky and with honor.
To be proud of my roots and celebrate them a todo lo que da.
It’s about thanking my parents each day for the life they gave me after risking their lives crossing the border.
H.Y.P.H.Y. is about accepting differences and teaching the older generation to love those differences no matter what.
At the end of the day, it’s about loving your imperfections that make you human.
Si Dios Quiere
By Jenny Hernandez
Heal your people, heal yourself. If I were to introduce that idea to my family, they would respond with, “Si Dios quiere.” Growing up I always heard them throw that phrase around whenever they were having a conversation. It would usually be during family gatherings where other relatives came from out of town. When everyone would say their farewells and say they’d see them during the next family gathering, they would always respond with,
“Si Dios quiere.”
Even when I was a little kid hearing this, it never sat right with me. I knew the phrase literally translated to “If God wants,” which sounded bittersweet and depressing. It always made me think, what if God doesn’t want to? What happens then?”
Hearing that phrase always terrified me because the possibility of not seeing those family members again could become a reality. It clicked in my head that if God didn’t want me to see my family members again, he didn’t have to.
Anything could happen in between the time of that family gathering to the next. I hated the phrase. I asked my mom, “porqué dicen si Dios quiere?” She responded “Pues es como si tú vas hacer algo pero a veces cambian las cosas.”
Well, it’s as if you are going to do something but sometimes things change.
Things change.
The phrase hit me especially hard when my Tia Mireya passed away. The last time I saw her she had given me a ride home from school and she told me if I ever needed a ride anywhere to let her know and she would give me one, si Dios quiere. Little did I know that would have been the last time I saw her. I now realize that the phrase, si Dios quiere, doesn’t always have to be negative. Like my mom said, things change, and they do out of the blue.
Everything happens for a reason and sometimes bad things happen for no reason. You never know what will happen, so it is important to be ready for change and accept change at any given time.
To me, healing your people, and healing yourself starts with grief and ends with acceptance. The grief could be for anything, whether it is losing someone you love, losing a job, or having financial struggles.
Once you overcome your grief, you have accepted the change that came into your life and now it is time to move forward and become better. In order to heal your people and heal yourself, we must come together and be united. In times of hardship and loss, family is what is most important. By being together, we will heal and overcome and be ready for any other hardship that comes our way.
Image by Jenny Hernandez
Stepping into A Better You
By Gissel Patino
To achieve healing, it means to know what is damaging you
To acknowledge the pain
Acknowledge the damage
Acknowledge that in order to heal, you’d need to grow past that pain
Healing is never easy
Never Fast
Healing is being able to understand that you are different from others.
Your experiences won’t be the same as your neighbor’s
Healing is peeling away the layers of your broken self
Your selfish self, your defeated self, your wondering self
Healing is not always fixed by Vaporu
Healing is a process not a destination
The fruits of your work will sprout
When they do, appreciate them
Love them
Care for them
Become one with them
And before you know it
Your thoughts will lead to the healing you want
To the improved you
Admired you
Working you
Loving you, but above all,
Being you
By being you, your community will also improve
Your energy will impact others around you and it will motivate you
It will bring joy and happiness to you
And your community, your family, your friends
Healing is always about improving
It is about acknowledging that you aren’t your best
It’s up to you to fix that, or dwell on it
Healing is about knowing when to stop and when to continue
When to be satisfied momentarily
And when to crave eternally
To heal, it will be a unique process
Different from your neighbor, your parents, your friends
Healing is a process, not a destination
Enjoy the process more in order to find true happiness
And healing
Image by Gissel Patino
Revista N’OJ ©<script>document.write( new Date().getFullYear() );</script> All right reserved.
English