development earth relations political power & power relations reclaim reimagine writing

first night

We walked up,
We kept walking up.
I was sure I would never leave the place-
What? And suffer this treacherous walk again?
No way.

Slightly drunk- it was the holidays-
he stumblingly stopped,
at a dark spot on the curved road.
Dark because of the ravine,
from which shot up tall tall trees.
Dark too because it was night.
I half-feared for my luggage,
So close was he to the edge.

Come, he said.
I walked closer.
See this? He pointed to the darkness.
This is ecobarrios.
Ecobarrios is in our blood,
It’s already in our DNA.
What we’re looking for es un pacto de borde.
Que nadie más construye por allá
y nos dejan aqui.

It is challenging to construct something in the shadow of uncertainty. I get the feeling that he needs this so badly. This to be left here, here in this place where family has been, in this place that is family. That is all the focus is on. Let us stay! We are already Ecobarrios.

And then what, I have to wonder. And then what when they let us stay?
And I remember the revolutionaries who won the revolution, then didn’t know what to do next.

Los Cerros, Bogotapmen

 

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