Sally Arango Renata's Posts - Architects of a New Dawn2024-03-29T12:23:57ZSally Arango Renatahttps://architectsofanewdawn.ning.com/profile/SallyRenatahttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2980515703?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://architectsofanewdawn.ning.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=1d6uv7gu2sc1d&xn_auth=noSi Se Puede*tag:architectsofanewdawn.ning.com,2009-12-05:2227378:BlogPost:1442222009-12-05T17:47:14.000ZSally Arango Renatahttps://architectsofanewdawn.ning.com/profile/SallyRenata
<b>Si Se Puede*</b><br />
<br />
(For my Uncle and Father)<br />
<br />
We heard stories of men grasping axles to ride<br />
under trains, “coyotes” who stuffed men into trucks,<br />
locked the doors into an airless ovens, bodies found near the river.<br />
<br />
They came, on foot, twelve to a pickup, square, brown Indios<br />
whose lightening hands moved across fields like blizzards,<br />
clearing orchards and fields for a few coins a bushel.<br />
<br />
Evenings, the ranchers would come. Truck tires on gravel, worried men<br />
who’d take hats off to rub their…
<b>Si Se Puede*</b><br />
<br />
(For my Uncle and Father)<br />
<br />
We heard stories of men grasping axles to ride<br />
under trains, “coyotes” who stuffed men into trucks,<br />
locked the doors into an airless ovens, bodies found near the river.<br />
<br />
They came, on foot, twelve to a pickup, square, brown Indios<br />
whose lightening hands moved across fields like blizzards,<br />
clearing orchards and fields for a few coins a bushel.<br />
<br />
Evenings, the ranchers would come. Truck tires on gravel, worried men<br />
who’d take hats off to rub their heads, run granite hands<br />
down their jaws, the count. Life on this land was the count.<br />
<br />
One year there were different faces. Priests, nuns,<br />
brown faces, strong woman faces who talked of twenty<br />
to a room, no plumbing, fifteen hour days, solidarity.<br />
<br />
The men who came for the count now gathered<br />
in barns and boardrooms, shot bullets from their eyes<br />
when they saw us. The students were coming to march,<br />
work alongside, live in the shacks, tell.<br />
<br />
I drank the richness of our friend from Delano.<br />
His eyes warmed hearts, his gentle voice a sword that cut<br />
through a hundred years.<br />
<br />
Cesar stood with my Uncle, When I asked if I could pick grapes<br />
with the students. He looked at my Uncle and laughed.<br />
No chica, it’s too dangerous,<br />
and you might get your knees dirty.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*Si se puede (Yes we can) was the slogan of Cesar Chavez and the organizing United Farmworkers, It was used later as the slogan for the Obama campaign.<br />
<br />
11/21/09