new poem: Affirmations for Dreaming

I’m honored and humbled to share my poem, "Affirmations for Dreaming", with you. This piece emerged from a deep reflection on a single question: What am I reclaiming for—and from—my ancestors?

In a time when our political and social landscapes are overwhelmed with censorship, misinformation, and propaganda, I turn to truth-telling and poetry as a way to navigate the intersections of my existence and my community. I choose radical imagination and love to guide me into the future.

I had the opportunity to read this poem at a community and interfaith vigil in front of the detention center located in South Florida that is grossly violating the human rights of immigrants, while simultaneously destroying the Everglades. I am still processing this experience, the heartbreak and the hope.

If this work resonates with you, I invite you to experience the accompanying visual poem and join me at the free opening reception for Mi Gente Mi Pueblo's upcoming Movida artist exhibition, Reclamando Our Untold Stories, on August 29. The show includes an amazing lineup of Latinx artists. RSVP here.

Affirmations for Dreaming
Empire tried to drown me in the belly of the beast, but my ancestors knew how to swim
Mimic movement of a buoyed dream atop waves float and how to kick

Fangs of white supremacy sunk into the earth’s core

Injected border patrol, concrete cages,

Stitched loneliness into our overworked eyelids

So I ask you to dream with me….

I give myself permission to unlearn colonial lies.

When the voices say you are not enough, ask the earth what she thinks of you
When the voices say you must earn rest, dance with a hummingbird, swallow the sunlight
When they say other, we say us
Mutual care and sacred rest our daily lullabies
We make room for our elders, abuela, heartbreak, and time
Share a guava pastelito, limon, and vicks, and suddenly
Eyes find sunlight and suddenly
Warplanes and weapons cease to exist

I honor the struggle of those who came before me.

I walk with my ancestors even when their footsteps are silent, when their footsteps are palm fronds swaying, when their footsteps are tears caught on eyelashes,

I untangle language from the colonizers tongue and from the inner cheeks of my loved ones, I steep their struggle in tea leaves and ginger root, their grief is a hibiscus in a Florida winter

Building stronger after hurricane season

I have a voice in my ancestral language that salsas on my tongue

My healing is my community’s healing.

When your bones beg you to stop, you listen

When your muscles ache, you listen

When your body growls, you listen

When you heart weeps, you soften

I do not have to do this alone, liberation is collective.

My roots are cosmic groundwork

My soul family knows exactly the length of each sigh that crawls out of my mouth

I am holy and held

I set my imagination free.

We have alchemized exile into belonging

Your eyes shine with the light of love

The script of conquest has been siphoned out from your lungs

Your mind a galaxy of possibility

Your heart flows, a river birthing life

Beloveds you can breathe

I belong. We belong.

Our voices harmonize with the earth

She sighs and we know where the sore spots are

Until we are searching for the mysteries living under the skin, under the soil,

Until we see each other as dandelion and divinity.

Until we see every child as our miracle.

Until every mouth hangs open with awe.

Until we know the names of trees.

Until we know the sound of stillness.

Until we chase fireflies with no intention of keeping our hands clasped around their light.

Until we love.

Until we love.

Until we love like we belong to each other.

Let spoonfuls of love feed our hearts when they feel hollow

Until we love

Let us keep dreaming.

© 2025 by rose cervantes. All rights reserved.

No part of this poem can be reproduced or transmitted without written permission, with exceptions for brief excerpts used in reviews, interviews, or educational references with proper credit.