Fertile Hands of a Country That Is Not Third

by Hilary Cruz Mejia

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Where do you come from?

But like really really from?

I am from a very small coastal port 

where you get by fishing 

and driving people around 

in a tricycle for 3 to 5 quetzales 

from a 5-minute walk to the beach 

from the hope of rain 

that can freshen up la milpa

from the hope that rain

doesn’t make the ocean mad 

and hug us all with her water

and welcomes us with a hurricane 

 

But where do you come from?

But like really really from?

I am from a small municipio 

that lives en las orillas del océano pacifico 

bathed with the rivers 

Michatoya, María Linda y el Canal de Chiquimulilla

from the inlets of the river

where the conqueror Pedro de Alvarado built six ships 

to go together with Francisco Pizarro 

in the conquest of Peru

 

I am from a conservative

and diverse neighborhood 

that i call home 

 

I am from Puerto de Iztapa, Escuintla

I am from Puerto de Champerico, Retalhuleu

I am from the blood of my Mayan ancestors

I am from the roots of my Mesoamerica

 

from a country in the world 

that i call home 

 

But i am really 

like really really from

the hands of Pachamama

and the rage of poetry 

as a movement to heal 

the wounds that penetrate 

our meaning of home

 

of the land where conquistadores

told us our home was not ours anymore

of the land where tea can heal

the pain within your heart

 

from Guate good

not Guate what they think is bad

 

the land of the trees

Guatemaya.