Just a poem

I was empty out my UCI email and found the poem I wrote for my Afro-Latin American Music class in 09. It's nothing exceptional, but for the sake of collection...I'll archive it here.

The Rise of the Punta

We come from the roots of West Africa

to the shores of Central America.

We carry with us the dialect of Igñeri and

the ancient rhythms of Bunda.

It is in the Africanized name Garinagu

that we the Garifuna people proudly rise.

But in our blood we too hold

the legacy of Amerindian, Arawak and Carib.

Forced from the island of St. Vincent,

Our people did escape

the colonialism of the White Man's tyranny.

It is our expatriation that gave us the fuel,

to withhold the turbulent pacific.

So like our ancestors,

enslaved and uprooted from their homes,

we pulled forth in dignity to make roots

from the coastal lines of Honduras to Belize.

In these countries, our new countries

we have brought the Banguity

But you may know it as the Punta.

Through this rhythmic contexture,

we express the anguish, love, and resilience of centuries.

When our Gubida clamors and reveals himself,

our drums do summon the dead to rest,

Saying a final Ayaú to the physical world they go.

But, do not forget that the Punta is not only for wakes.

It too is the dance between man and woman.

With one gradual movement of our hips

from side to side,

we like the cock and hen, begin the dance.

Our movements progress with rapid cadence.

Faster and faster our hips do sway,

urging for the defeat of our contra part.

The drums become our canvas,

the maracas and conch shells our paint.

Together they color the richness of this sensuous dance.

But like changing seasons,

young Garinagus looked towards the North.

Leaving our culture abandoned like old relics,

waiting and waiting for their return.

At last!

Never do our young Garinagus forget

the Punta that moves their soul.

And from buried old relics,

their Garifuna feet did rise to the beat of a new drum.

So from this new spirit, a new form arose.

The fusion of old and new did Cayetano proclaim,

the birth of Punta rock.

On the fateful Moho street, the Turtle Shell Band did create.

Amalgamating our ancient Punta beats with exotic percussions.

And till this day their legacy

is heard from the corners of Trujillo

to the cities of Los Angeles and New York.

In the footsteps of this great Pioneer,

Palacio did follow like many others.

Mixing soca, salsa, reggae, and hip-hip

to our old Garifuna tunes.

So like a wild fire, this master form spreads,

catching ears, feet and hips on fire.

Even gueros in their boots can’t stop

the rhythm of their hips from left to right.

For in the coastal lines of Central America to the land of liberty,

we can hear the pilgrimage of our Garinagu

in the lively tune of Banda Blanca’s “Sopa de Caracol”.