ANTHEM by Lisa Alvarado

When we put out the call for Las Musas to come together for Black Lives Matter statement, madrina Lisa Alvarado (Poet. Chicana. Italian. Jew. Finding God in nature. Aleyo. ) sent us the the poem below to share with you all! 

In her words, she offers this because Black brothers and sisters are our family.

​ANTHEM by Lisa Alvarado
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The poem is a blessing. The poem is contraband. The poem is Molotov cocktail. The poem is balm. The poem is napalm. The poem is a slap. The poem is a kiss. The poem is a curse. The poem is revelation. The poem is revolution.
The poem is Sunday church supper. The poem is the lash. The poem is a firebrand. The poem is The Underground Railroad. The poem is a night stick. The poem is someone who will not break. The poem is the tree never bearing strange fruit. The poem is a rope that spells freedom.
The poem is wet feet and the Rio Grande. The poem is the back of a truck. The poem’s other name is coyote. The poem is La Migra handcuffed to a chair. The poem is papeles. The poem is a wall that keeps crumbling. The poem es una poema.

The poem is a broken swastika. The poem is a shredded brown shirt. The poem is a white hood with no eyes. The poem is yelling Basta ya! The poem spits out bullets.
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The poem is a panhandler. The poem is a Walmart cashier. The poem is a hotel maid. The poem is a factory worker. The poem is a time clock. The poem is a paycheck. The poem is child labor. The poem is a striker. The poem is an eight-hour day.

The poem is hunger. The poem is cornbread. The poem is pozole. The poem is dim sum. The poem is fry bread. The poem is thirst. The poem is cool water. The poem is wine. The poem is a table named dignity.

The poem is a saint. The poem is a sinner. The poem is silence. The poem is a cry in the dark.
The poem is something lost. The poem is something found. The poem is something broken. The poem is the taste of blood. The poem is the cure no one expected.

The poem is be-bop. The poem is Miles. The poem is Coltrane. The poem is Nina. The poem is something you can’t say with words.

The poem is a way in. The poem is a way out. The poem is Hallelujah. The poem is Baruch Hashem. The poem is Salaam Aleikum. The poem is red brick dust. The poem is holy water. The poem is cabrona. The poem is patrician. The poem is puta madre.

The poem is a cemetery. The poem is sanctuary. The poem is a battlefield. The poem is breaking chains. The poem is a mouth that can’t be silenced.

The poem is a fist. The poem is a left hook and a cracked jaw. The poem gets up off the mat. The poem grabs you by the throat. The poem grabs you by the balls.
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The poem is the bed you sleep in. The poem is a dream. In the dream, an angel is writing a word.
The word the angel writes is justice.

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About the Author

Lisa Alvarado is an  poet, novelist, journalist, and educator. She is the founder of La Onda Negra Press, author of Reclamo and The Housekeeper's Diary; a book of poetry and a one-woman performance.

Her first novel, Sister Chicas, Penguin/NAL, was released in April 2006. The novel is a coming of age story concerning the lives of three young Latinas living in Chicago. It won 2nd place, Best First Novel in English. (Latino Literacy Now/2007)

Her book of poetry, Raw Silk Suture, with a forward by Juan Felipe Herrera was released by Floricanto Press in 2008. She has curated multimedia exhibits, mounted her own multimedia piece, Reclamo, in the Pilsen art corridor in Chicago; and is currently a contributor to the nationally touring exhibit, Re-imagining the Distaff Toolkit, curated by Ricki Solinger/SUNY.

Lisa is the recipient of grants from the NEA, and the Ragdale Foundation. In Fall, 2009, she was awarded Hispanic Author of the Year by the State of Illinois. In 2011, she contributed to Me No Habla with Acento, edited by Emanuel Xavier, and released by Rebel Satori Press, and authored Still, Life, a volume of essays and poetry. In 2015, she curated and edited an anthology of online jazz-inspired poetry, Love You Madly. In 2019, Lisa contributed to anthology on abortion, curated by Annie Finch.

http://lisaalvarado.net
Twitter @poetisa828
Instagram lisaalvarado828