11-1-2023
Martha Alicia Rivas Maravilla, Ph.D.
SOLA
a
veces
yo
cuando
sola
i
hold
no
identity
PALABRAS
te escribo todas las noches.
y no se como
y tal vez no tengo que tener respuestas,
solo sentido del como se siente cuando me besas.
sunset beaming through my window sill
sunlight shimmering through the curtain, still
beaming off your brown beautiful skin, steal
me.
broad shoulders and arms and jaw line to die for
lips and tongue and lips again on mine or on my tits
suckling as in trying to remind me how well i feed
you
me
again.
y no se como
y tal vez no tengo que tener respuestas
solo palabras para escribirte estas.
LIT FOLK
what is between the letters
what is between the words
what is between the breaths
what is between these sounds i hear at night
wondering why,
where
are
thou?
shakespeare was never a favorite
always felt forced
el inglés that never belonged to anyone, really
a language with syllables
and sounds
and too many thou’s
and too many white supremacist atrocities my tongue could never quite want to taste
nor embrace, porqué: nah!
4+ years of shakespeare to get an english degree
ah
hell
nah.
good thing danny martinez dijo: Comparative Lit is an option
Chicano from South Gate
he knew, me
Chicana from Indio
we are lit folk
he knew i was a lit
i knew he was lit
no need to convince another lit folk.
we saw things
we felt things
we wanted things to be rooted in literacy
literacy
that which they took from us -
first, let’s take away their writings
and their teachings
and their ways of knowing.
why read?
to question and want more?
to ask why?
why shit gotta be this way?
cuz you want me to read shakespeare’s work for four goddamn years?
nah.
we are lit folk.
let me read
let me be
let me write
our own stories
our own truths
our own ways of knowing.
porque a veces ni se en que idioma escribir
y a veces me trabo
que hasta hay momentos donde octavio escribe
and i go on and google
cuz brother got skills
like those i aspired to gain with an english degree, like he.
but that shakespeare requirement was some ucla bullshit.
so
i took my own damn way
i took my own damn way
to eventually get here
because maybe
just maybe
we gotta keep doing what we are destined to be,
so long as we come back to this:
letters between what is
words between what is
breaths between what is:
sounds like worlds i recreate
when i write to you.
CREATIVE RESILIENCE
why you so cleva-
flip those vowels and you’ve been a clave
con esas palabras en la boca
como dices
una y otra
con esas palabras en escritura
como dices
sí nos dijieron miles de veces
el porqué o qué
questioning our merit
questioning our worth
questioning our ability
like that moment
minute
hour
days
weeks
years
goddam eternity
with their eugenic-driven formula
when we were perceived as empty vessels -
when we were perceived as empty vessels -
when we were perceived as empty
why folks like us need to write?
why folks like us write like us?
why folks like us love to write?
why folks like us love love
ay
es que no saben acá de lo bueno
we be -
we be holding onto every fucking word
crafting worlds of the remember when’s
to reimagining worlds of the what could have been’s
and all that can actually be
for you
for me
for us
for generations yet to be.
though
it’s never really been
about you
nor me
nor them
it’s for the legacies that will continue to remind folks
H o w t o : fucking pronounce our names, ‘yo
like pronounce that accent as it was intended
because that X in the name serves a mudafucking purpose
because that H in my name makes a fucking difference
don’t erase our presence -
we exclaim this
we write this
we create its presentation
we evoke thee
in any way we want it to be.
we do what we do because we can
we do what we do because hundreds of thousands and millions were killed
giving us the opportunity to speak
giving us the opportunity to write
giving us the opportunity to keep the goddam fight
because
we know the fucking difference
y podemos cambiar nuestro estilo cuando se nos de la pinche ganá
because -
we do what we do to leave a legacy
generation by generation to generation and then some;
they’ll read these words
and imagine what it must’ve been
dissecting worlds of conquered folk
to creating words from resilient folk.
we are here,
unapologetically
rooted with creative resilience
loved with creative resilience
armed with creative resilience
y lo hacemos
hasta qué ya no -
ya no puédamos.
RECIRPOCITY
reconoces aquella mirada…
cansadísima de todo aquello
de los sueños que se quedan como sueños
de las ganas de apagar aquellas ganas.
reconoces aquella mirada…
con aquellas emociones
reconociendo
muy bien los fracasos
o pensamientos
o sentimientos
o emociones
que mienten porque
qué fue fracaso cuando se aprende un chingo y se encuentra a uno mismo -
reconoces aquella mirada?
reconoce.
aquella.
mira.
da.
reciprocity is all it takes.
-from a book that does not yet exist, selected by Assistant Editor, Karen Carr
Dra. Martha Alicia Rivas Maravilla is an accomplished author, scholar, educator, mother and peleonera. Originally from Zamora, Michoacán, Mexico, and raised in Indio, California, she is a first-generation academic scholar. Dra. Martha holds four degrees from UCLA, including a Ph.D. in Education with a specialization in critical race theory. La Doctora is a Chicana epistemic methodologist, where she addresses white supremacy, structural oppression, and the brilliance and resiliency of marginalized folks as we, collectively, decolonize our ancestral and intuitive knowledge. For 22-years, Profe Rivas has taught Chicana/o Studies, educational policy, research methods, and critical race theory within all three public sectors of higher education in California (community colleges, CSU, UC). Dr. Rivas is also a national and international evaluation expert within the nonprofit sector, having led national efforts to secure over $575 Million for the Los Angeles region. Dra. Martha is a poet, spoken-word theorist and cantadora, unapologetically speaking truth to the eugenic-driven formula that still attempts to shape our existence, as an unapologetic commitment towards our collective liberation.