esperanza

: vieques, puerto rico

 the sand crackles with bits of glass
rocks, slivers of shell, and the heat of the sun
which has sagged deep beneath the horizon
tired of hanging in the humid day

the water sways like a splotch of black ink
beneath a bed of warbling stars
the memory of bombs smokes just over shoulder

the islet is barely a shadow against
all this black – it skulks beyond the jut of  shoreline
the white man that lives there
swims to shore 
body shimmering through the hush and break of waves
and sneaks into dry shorts

children whoop and giggle
riding horses back and forth el malecón
they are brown and smiling and far too awake
they ignore tourists and flirt with each other

stingrays fly silently beneath the pier
sweet demons fluttering
with capes both comic and ominous
we lay on our stomachs and watch them
our tan arms glowing hematite
seaweed beneath sways calypso

it is past midnight
and the beach is bright
the sky is big and liquid and beautiful
spilling milky light across the pier’s soft sunwarmed wood
the sweet searchlight moon blaring on the sand

everything is a reverent sigh
rum tinkles over ice cubes at the beach-side bar
christmas lights salsa around the tipping spines of palms
cars bleat at the sleepy horses tropping in the street

what does paradise look like
after the sun has set? is the jeweled air as salty sweet
in the dark? the moon pulls back the blanket
of the sea and tucks the island in to sleep

Kristiana Colón, one of Chicago's Def Poets, is pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Writing at the School of the Art Institute Chicago. Born and raised in Chicago, Kristiana has recently produced her first original play entitled but i cd only whisper at the University of Chicago, directed by Tiffany Trent. She toured Chicago with Grammatical Era and London with the WordWide poetry slam team, which featured at London’s first inner-city youth slam. Kristiana has rocked the mic at some of the Midwest's top venues including the Park West, the Metro, the Star Plaza Theater, the Aragon, the HotHouse, Subterranean, the Funky Buddha Lounge and Sonotheque as well as several colleges and universities. In 2005, she released her independently produced spoken word CD entitled Who Haunts Eden and was featured on HBO’s fifth season of Def Poetry Jam . In addition to recording, publishing, and performing, Kristiana also spends some time teaching drama, performance poetry, and other forms of creative writing in inner-city schools to talented youth ages six to eighteen. Kristiana holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Language and Literature/Creative Writing from the University of Chicago.