WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.900 align:middle line:84% This is where strange weather is in my lungs. 00:00:02.900 --> 00:00:03.840 align:middle line:90% Is that the line? 00:00:03.840 --> 00:00:05.280 align:middle line:90% Oh, my God. 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:07.780 align:middle line:84% I want to write to sharpen ourselves. 00:00:07.780 --> 00:00:10.600 align:middle line:84% I write to sharpen ourselves, is that the line? 00:00:10.600 --> 00:00:12.840 align:middle line:90% Damn. 00:00:12.840 --> 00:00:15.760 align:middle line:84% I had the pleasure of working with Kentaro 00:00:15.760 --> 00:00:18.760 align:middle line:84% and our next poet on the collaborative poem 00:00:18.760 --> 00:00:21.020 align:middle line:90% that you're going to hear later. 00:00:21.020 --> 00:00:26.000 align:middle line:84% And I got to see in real-time the brilliance and energy 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:29.060 align:middle line:84% and generosity that both of these poets offer. 00:00:29.060 --> 00:00:31.600 align:middle line:84% And the next poet particularly, I'd like to say sometimes 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:34.760 align:middle line:84% that poetry is an act against silencing. 00:00:34.760 --> 00:00:41.600 align:middle line:84% And this next poet, her work embodies that notion. 00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:45.460 align:middle line:84% The poems are proclamations, poems are gloriously alive. 00:00:45.460 --> 00:00:48.920 align:middle line:84% They're testaments to the beauty and power and sometimes 00:00:48.920 --> 00:00:51.160 align:middle line:90% the pain of living. 00:00:51.160 --> 00:00:55.400 align:middle line:84% Mariana Rivera is Yoeme poet of the Pascua Yaqui 00:00:55.400 --> 00:00:56.580 align:middle line:90% tribe of Arizona. 00:00:56.580 --> 00:00:58.680 align:middle line:84% Her poetry has been featured in an art exhibition 00:00:58.680 --> 00:01:01.540 align:middle line:84% in collaboration with the Arizona State Museum, 00:01:01.540 --> 00:01:03.680 align:middle line:84% and is currently engaged in fostering art 00:01:03.680 --> 00:01:04.910 align:middle line:90% within her community. 00:01:04.910 --> 00:01:06.521 align:middle line:90% Mariana. 00:01:06.521 --> 00:01:10.449 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:01:10.449 --> 00:01:17.330 align:middle line:90% 00:01:17.330 --> 00:01:20.290 align:middle line:84% Thank you for the beautiful introduction. 00:01:20.290 --> 00:01:22.690 align:middle line:84% And thank you, Kentaro, for opening up the space 00:01:22.690 --> 00:01:26.410 align:middle line:90% with such beautiful words. 00:01:26.410 --> 00:01:29.202 align:middle line:84% My name is Mariana Rivera [GREETS AUDIENCE IN YOEME]. 00:01:29.202 --> 00:01:32.450 align:middle line:90% 00:01:32.450 --> 00:01:35.770 align:middle line:84% I'm a member of the Yaqui tribe here in Tucson. 00:01:35.770 --> 00:01:38.450 align:middle line:84% And, as you know, I am reading before you today 00:01:38.450 --> 00:01:41.730 align:middle line:84% with Indigenous nations poets following a mentorship 00:01:41.730 --> 00:01:47.530 align:middle line:84% retreat where we discussed things like sacred spaces, what 00:01:47.530 --> 00:01:52.730 align:middle line:84% being sacred means, the importance of water and water 00:01:52.730 --> 00:01:54.010 align:middle line:90% as roots. 00:01:54.010 --> 00:01:59.730 align:middle line:84% And so on that note, I'll be reading two poems for you. 00:01:59.730 --> 00:02:03.930 align:middle line:84% And this first one is about Being Afraid to Swim. 00:02:03.930 --> 00:02:05.150 align:middle line:90% It's called Mala. 00:02:05.150 --> 00:02:08.860 align:middle line:90% 00:02:08.860 --> 00:02:12.540 align:middle line:84% What would a world be without water? 00:02:12.540 --> 00:02:16.020 align:middle line:84% What is a world without a mother? 00:02:16.020 --> 00:02:18.700 align:middle line:90% Why fear what gives us life? 00:02:18.700 --> 00:02:23.060 align:middle line:84% Conviction in your feet, firmly in sand. 00:02:23.060 --> 00:02:26.700 align:middle line:84% Your babies meekly greet watchful waves. 00:02:26.700 --> 00:02:32.620 align:middle line:84% Too wise, all-knowing spirits meet and never touch. 00:02:32.620 --> 00:02:36.860 align:middle line:84% Too afraid of what collision would mean. 00:02:36.860 --> 00:02:40.180 align:middle line:84% There is a mother from years outworn reaching 00:02:40.180 --> 00:02:43.180 align:middle line:90% for her daughter always. 00:02:43.180 --> 00:02:45.440 align:middle line:90% Pesky, leaky, dripping sink. 00:02:45.440 --> 00:02:49.220 align:middle line:84% Spouting out gentle coos to ears deafened 00:02:49.220 --> 00:02:52.800 align:middle line:84% by sounds of man building cities over land. 00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:56.740 align:middle line:84% Home sickness lurks in dry riverbeds. 00:02:56.740 --> 00:02:57.840 align:middle line:90% Do you feel her? 00:02:57.840 --> 00:02:59.020 align:middle line:90% Pat your back. 00:02:59.020 --> 00:03:03.700 align:middle line:84% Kiss your cheek, or graze your hand when drizzles fall gently 00:03:03.700 --> 00:03:05.180 align:middle line:90% upon us. 00:03:05.180 --> 00:03:10.180 align:middle line:84% Drops like fingertips shy of grasp. 00:03:10.180 --> 00:03:13.550 align:middle line:84% You dip your toes from pool's shallow end 00:03:13.550 --> 00:03:16.430 align:middle line:84% where she is contained, weakened, 00:03:16.430 --> 00:03:18.310 align:middle line:90% never daring to dive deep. 00:03:18.310 --> 00:03:19.790 align:middle line:90% She cries. 00:03:19.790 --> 00:03:21.670 align:middle line:90% She cries. 00:03:21.670 --> 00:03:24.730 align:middle line:90% Every summer monsoon storms. 00:03:24.730 --> 00:03:26.350 align:middle line:90% She hasn't forgotten us. 00:03:26.350 --> 00:03:27.870 align:middle line:90% The ocotillo knows. 00:03:27.870 --> 00:03:30.030 align:middle line:90% Blooming in respect. 00:03:30.030 --> 00:03:33.490 align:middle line:84% Life bestowed upon unknowing souls. 00:03:33.490 --> 00:03:36.870 align:middle line:84% It is a labor of love to roam the sky, 00:03:36.870 --> 00:03:39.890 align:middle line:84% slither beneath cities, carve mountains, 00:03:39.890 --> 00:03:44.910 align:middle line:84% swallow islands, and still run softly between our toes. 00:03:44.910 --> 00:03:47.870 align:middle line:84% Marla wiggles my feet in the mornings. 00:03:47.870 --> 00:03:50.550 align:middle line:84% She says, the price of staying in bed 00:03:50.550 --> 00:03:55.150 align:middle line:84% is each little piggy I've grown, which she can steal at any time. 00:03:55.150 --> 00:03:56.750 align:middle line:90% Never does. 00:03:56.750 --> 00:04:03.510 align:middle line:84% Between fingertips and palm, I feel her grip tight. 00:04:03.510 --> 00:04:06.670 align:middle line:90% How waves tug against the shore. 00:04:06.670 --> 00:04:07.970 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:04:07.970 --> 00:04:11.920 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:04:11.920 --> 00:04:15.000 align:middle line:90%