Ayling Dominquez
Poetry
I always aim to create artwork that uplifts our stories and
ayling dominquez
the stories of our communities, to showcase our truths and our diversity,
and to be able to offer that as a tool with which to unite around
and grow together toward better futures.
The Cavernous
You will have to excuse me
for I can only be friends with the cavernous
Hearts that have suffered long before they knew the word
and graciously made room for
the heavy breath of the unknown
and learned to sew themselves whole
turning inward for the affirmational echo
and fingerpainted murals on the doors of their lungs
to take breaths of color
Those who know the sun,
like most things you love,
will be your demise if you let it
That the world is always ending
should give us great comfort
for that must mean it is also
always beginning
Best to pray in front of mirrors
to honor the gods we hold within us.
Cry Me a World Without Borders
the americans say Grand
cutting the e off surgically
because they know the sound held in our mouths
means you and me and
they’d rather not two of us
two shades too dark
No shade
covering the river
And it was quiet
as if it knew the rules and practices of hiding
A whiter poet might say it’s impossible to know
where it starts
as if they couldn’t turn to look and follow
the trail of crumbs of our broken hearts
across a body of water
that was once ours
I neared the river
and the thousand
attempts to cross
Caught
in my throat
And a soreness remained
Reminder that choosing to soar
comes not
without pain
and it’s about how much
we can sustain
and let me guess, this is where you expected a brown person
to tell you that in their culture,
there is a saying
but the cold water truth is
all things between us are decaying
despite your most earnest prayings
and tears
so cry me a world without borders
and weaponization of your fears.
A large bee blocked my path
Buzzed loud and hovered
Dead
in the middle
Silly bee, honey is not near
seems all things good and glorious are
far from this river
The only river worth crossing
is the uncharted one within us.
Artist’s statement
I strongly believe that the affirmation of one’s stories and life experiences—particularly when interrogated, reflected upon, and expressed creatively, and especially when they are the stories of a community historically underserved—is a major stepping stone toward liberation. It is for this reason that I always aim to create artwork that uplifts our stories and the stories of our communities, to showcase our truths and our diversity, and to be able to offer that as a tool with which to unite around and grow together toward better futures. My art is based in radical love and community nurturing and growing; it draws energy and inspiration from James Baldwin’s teaching, “If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you do not see.” My poetry tries to write the new suns that Octavia Butler told us about.
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