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Where Poetry Lives
since 2009
Iris De Anda
Iris De Anda is a writer, activist, and practitioner of the healing arts. A womyn of color of Mexican and Salvadorean descent. A native of Los Angeles she believes in the power of spoken word, poetry, storytelling, and dreams. She has been published in Poetry of Resistance Anthology, Mujeres de Maiz Zine, Loudmouth Zine: Cal State LA, OCCUPY SF poems from the movement, The Border Crossed Us Anthology, Seeds of Resistance, In the Words of Women, Twenty: In Memoriam, Revolutionary Poets Brigade Los Angeles Anthology, Frontera Esquina, Brooklyn & Boyle, and online at La Bloga & La Tolteca. She is a moderator for Poets Responding to SB 1070. She currently hosts The Writers Underground Open Mic every Third Thursday of the month at the Eastside Cafe. Author of CODESWITCH: Fires From Mi Corazon. www.irisdeanda.com
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Daffodil
in the flowers
of my step
I plant seeds
of change
each footprint
etching edges
of rebellion
growing from
the soles
of my bare feet
were roots
transplanted
by my grandmothers
my toes
curl into
the mud
of mountains
so I can
stand tall
even after
so much
of my history
was spent
on fallen fields
the echo
of the trees
that carry
my lineage
reverberates
in my bones
i run
rushing rivers
under raging sadness
release all
of this
expectations
drown
in the distance
as i hear
my ancestors
calling
rise in the truth
of your inner knowing
the herbs
are sown
in your interior
rosemary
full of grace
pirul
for dusting off
all the bad traces
of memories
sit with this offering
shake away
all the assuming glances
of your character
you came to make waves
crush the mold
with your laughter
crash into authority
redefine every moment
by placing
one boot
in front of the other
until you reach
something
you never knew
was out there
(c)2016 Iris De Anda
Midnight in my Bones
the Bruja in me
laughs daffodils
until morning comes
by the cover of dark
moon I dream
violet awake stir
echoes into silence
etch the edge of
Light into my finger
tips drip letters
into the spaces
between me the
vowels find themselves
in my ribcage caught
between feeling home
& wanting to shout
to strangers when
the numbers follow
& the clock strikes
bells I awaken even
if my eyes stay closed
I remember the sound
of pyrite conjuring Is z
my tongue opens
feeling away layers
unraveling spells
thorns pulled out
of my witches
mouth
(c)2016 Iris De Anda
The Absence of Sound
If I close my eyes
Count all the stars
Magnify my fears
Spread across the stripes
Let the trees
Be my witness
Illuminate this silence
My palm a screen
All the unsaid violence
Spilling into ether
Unto the light we're born
Living with one hand
Raised up with the microphone
These are strange days
Listen to no one
As the horn blasts out
Third eye explodes
I can see clearly now
This loud solitude my prayer
Highway of angels
Hitchhiking on wires
Transverse this wilderness
By moonlights hour
The parade ends here
King crucified on stage
One last attempt to play the part
(c)2016 Iris De Anda