One of my UC Berkeley students, Pablo Paredes, wrote the following poem, and it just felt so timely. You can also see him perform it in the video, below.

 

Fear and despair are airborne diseases peor que el Coronavirus

They … try to divide us

But, we’ve been entrusted

With the truth

That even this … Is here to unite us

 

To the poets, to the song writers, the authors, the artists

This part is probably the hardest

But YOUR VOICE,

CAN’T STAY HOME!
Now is the moment,

To sing that song,

To pen that poem,

To learn that lyric

To pour that passion out on paper

on timelines, on stories,

Go live

And let your feeds, feed the peoples spirits

Let it flood the web

Bounce off satellites and fill hearts with hope

But YOUR VOICE,

Can’t STAY HOME!
NOW is the moment

To share that recipe, share that memory, share that herstory

To share that poetry, share that melody, share that energy

NOW is the moment

To share, to compartir, to find new ways to convivir

 

Me cuenta Abuela

That when faced with the most traumatic temporales,

And the most enormous, pena

We have always been people of Bomba Y Plena

Somos gente que monta su propia escena

Mientras se paraliza todo un sistema

Estos poemas en quarentena

Pal mal tiempo,

son cara Buena

Son … impreciables

 

Frente al peso del pesimismo

We NEED, un nuevo hymno

Hace falta

Darle voz a nuestra potencia

To silence el grito insufrible de la impotencia

Hace falta

Enfrentar el Despecho,

E Inflar con versos de orgullo el pecho

Hace falta

Enfrentar la desilusion,

con nuevas Iluciones

La desesperacion

Con nuevas esperanzas

 

A las trovadoras, the griots, the poets

To those that dream up tommorows

We need you to show it

Tomorrow begs for a vision and you need to pen it

The journey requires a map and you need to chart it

The future demamds a story and you need to write it

See hope, is timeless

 

When politicians fill the air, with Disillusion and despair

And the press keeps us Distressed and Depressed

It’s up to the poets to prune the Gloom and doom away

From the present

to pave a path

For the power of this pivotal hour

The climate will not wait, there’s no shortage among activists for a cause

But the planet needed a pause…

I mean before Covid 19,

The American Dream

Had been exposed for a hoax

And people’s problems had reached the point of no return

Global warming had some of us feeling the burn

But not enough of us, the planet needed a hard reset

So this world could reboot,

so we, as artists before a blank canvass,

Could re-root,

The worst catastrophe NOW? It isn’t a shortage of Tests, masks, ventilators or ICU’s

To the Poets, I’m pleading

The worst catastrophe now,

would be not having you!!!

Nurses need to triage the damage on the front lines,

Farmers are risking their health cause food is a life line

Grocery workers, those that feed the elders, those that brave the virus,

All the random acts of kindness…

Essential.

But there’s a tension,

between reacting, surviving

and visioning and thriving.

 

Por eso pido a gritos

Poemas en quarentena

Pol que como dijo Silvio

Que cosa fuera

La masa sin cantera

 

That’s why I call out to the Poets

There IS a new way forward,

But it’s you who needs to paint the present from a pallette of opportunity

It’s you who needs to write to us about the future in ALL her beauty

So you can’t leave the house, but your voice cant’ stay home,

We need those poems!

To the Poets

This, is a call to duty.

 

 

Pablo Paredes Burgos is a Puerto Rican Re-entry / Transfer / Student Parent and community organizer, majoring in Ethnic Studies and Chicano Studies at the University of California Berkeley. Pablo is also a dedicated family caregiver. Shortly after transferring to UC Berkeley his homeland of Puerto Rico was ravaged by hurricanes Maria, Irma and the ongoing colonial subjugation of the Island. Since then Paredes has made 5 trips to the Island bringing humanitarian aid, developing partnerships with Puerto Rican community based organizations  and developing a student brigade model through the UC Berkeley Public Service Center’s Alternative Breaks program. Paredes hopes to bring resources and the power of the University platform to bear in the ongoing efforts to free Puerto Rico! To support AltBreaks Puerto Rico our Student led service project for Spring Break please donate at: https://tinyurl.com/AltBreaksPR