NORMALCY
 
We have had whales 
on the roof of the houses for years
Before, some people managed to see them,
and they didn't understand the absurd.
They said puzzled:
Look at the whales up there
They are going to suffocate!
They're going to collapse the houses!
But most ignored them.
Maybe they confused them with the sky
Maybe they thought they were part of the roof
Maybe they never looked up
or distrusted their own judgment.
 
But after the world stopped
and  we feared for everyone's life
when we wanted to lookup
and see clean skies and strong houses,
the sad folly became evident.
Now the whale on the roof is very clear.
If you don't see it
it's because you don't want to.
Luz Stella Mejia Mantilla, May 5, 2020

Original in Spanish: NORMALIDAD

 BROKEN WORLD

I

Maybe for a new world to be born
the old one has to be broken.
 
We already knew it.
Hesse told us at the age of 15.
So many others affirmed it
and we half understood.
 
We didn't know that literally
the world would break one day.
 
That the important ones would be useless,
and the nobodies
would carry everyone's life in their hands,
like modern Atlases.
 
That the guides 
have their lights off 
mistaking the way.
 
That those who think life 
and paint it with colors, music and words
are the ones who save us.
 
That the mendicant gods are hidden
and their self-proclaimed exclusive agents
keep asking for the fee
for the heaven’s expensive services.
 
We didn't know who the heroes would be
if the world broke.
Now we have met them:
Men and women with science shields 
who have not been given masks
but have been ordered gags.
 
II
 
The world is broken
what will we cure it with?
with eggshells
burritos to the pasture.
Let the king pass… 
let him pass and go on and not come back.
Because we will not heal the world
with eggshells.
The world must be remade
from the beginning.
Luz Stella Mejía Mantilla, April 29, 2020

Original en español: MUNDO ROTO

FIRST OF ALL
 
To stay at home 
you must first have a home
 
To miss someone 
first you have to be with someone
 
To be unemployed 
you must first have a job
 
To return to normality, 
we must invent normality.
Luz Stella Mejía Mantilla, April 2020

Original en español: PRIMERO QUE TODO

We won’t forget
 
We won't forget who still stands
next to the sick,
even with plastic frustration and handmade rage.
 
We will not forget the farmers 
that gave hope with plantains in Tuluá.
 
We won't forget the 29 Diner
who turned his dining room into a pantry.
 
The one who lent his car to a stranger,
a nurse who was late for saving lives
 
We won't forget the one who exchanged profits
for justice, giving back wealth to its source.
 
We will not forget those who have risen
with the truth as a torch and as a spear
 
We won't forget the gestures of love and care
We will burn them in the memory with fire 
 
We won't forget noble women and men,
ordinary people doing, in their routine,
extraordinary things.
 
We will not forget the tyrants either.
Those who exclude the white coats
Those who buy, stockpile and gouge
Those who want the world always turning
around their never-ending greed.
 
No,
We will never forget.
Luz Stella Mejía Mantilla, April 15, 2020

Original en español: No olvidaremos

The hair grows
and the truth is revealed
We are looking for masks to go out
while we are at home without makeup
We get rid of accessories
and we learn to love the essential things.
Maybe the bare white roots
don't matter anymore
Maybe now I learn
to be able by myself.
Maybe now I appreciate
my mother's seams
the imperfect kitchen of my childhood
the tricks, the lessons
that so many women taught me, and
my father and grandpa’s talents.
The crops, the weaves, the repairs,
the paintings, the furniture, the inventions.
Handmade
will be from now on
the preferred brand in my home.

Luz Stella Mejía Mantilla, April 13, 2020

Original en español: Hecho a mano

Superheroes
 
We always thought that it's about being the strongest
The deadliest, the macho-man
Superheroes are the ones 
with those biceps
And triceps
And abs
Anonymous and undercover
Masked and caped 
flying around saving lives.
 
And the real villain comes
to destroy life as we know it.
It’s not the invisible man
although we can't see it
Not a dragon
but it flies from place to place
It is not Godzilla but collapses 
markets and hospitals 
It is small
and vulnerable
And it has shown us our
vulnerability.
 
But now we know
it’s not about the force of muscle
Real heroes, with homemade masks
And plastic caps
And donated covers
Are running around saving lives.
 
With the power of science
And the superpower of altruism
Brave and caring
They are the authentic superheroes.
 
And their determination shows us
that the future is empathy
or it is not.
Their goal is to save lives
and their legacy will be
to change the world.
 
Luz Stella Mejia Mantilla, April 6, 2020
​
Original en español: Superhéroes

This poem was inspired by the video of Dr. Zubin Damania in his YouTube channel ZDoggMD.
The fact that our doctors and nurses do not have enough PPE is already the last straw, but that they are also silenced and prohibited from reporting these facts is beyond incredible. It is unacceptable. When I saw the video, I was moved because it seemed to me that if someone now has the power to change a barbaric health system, it is the doctors and nurses, because in this historic moment, without them we are all dead. They are superheroes, not only for their science and altruism, but because their determination can effectively change the world.
​