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Justicia was My Grandmother’s Name: A Villanelle

 

Justicia was my grandmother’s name

jaguar justice, neighborhood warrior, indigenous Teiruna hammered gold

my family says our eyes look the same

 

cooking up a sopa de papa, huevo, carne de hueso con ñame

healing cauldron witchery of guardabarranco in flight and the skin of anole

Justicia was my grandmother’s name

 

cacique palenquera ancestry in wide forearms built to skin game

history buried under Amazonian moss, remembered via candlelight repetitions of stories told

my family says our eyes look the same

 

Abuela hired teens for work, paid for their schooling, as was her barrio fame

wove the history of the universe into blankets used to shelter these orphans from the cold

Justicia was my grandmother’s name

 

What would she say today, seeing blood-stained leaders kill the young, escaping blame?

I want my broad calves to slice through this raging river of corruption, find truth in her mold

my family says our eyes look the same

 

I dreamt her love was a loom of pirrangas rojas, feathers on a silver zephyr that came

mid-blush morn and whispered, you, too, are a channel of light, be strong and hold

onto the fact that Justicia was your grandmother’s name

I see, we see, our eyes are the same