The Latina Book Club is honored to reprint Rudolfo
Anaya’s new poem in memory of the 49 fallen in Orlando.
Our prayers continue to
be with the family and friends, and the LGBT Community at large.
#LoveIsLoveIsLove
“The Pulse of Life”
It was the twelfth of
June
another
hot and humid Florida night.
In Orlando young
people gathered at the
Pulse
Club, enjoying camaraderie, the
dance
floor pulsating with life,
dancers
moving to syncopated music,
Latin
rhythms, good will embraces,
laughter,
friendships, plans for
tomorrow,
flashing smiles releasing
stress
in silent motions.
Then the pulse of life
ended.
A
man on fire came from a dark,
twisted
place, methodically spraying
death,
massacring our LGBT
dancers
who fell like cut flowers.
Pulses died in 49
bloodied wrists,
blood
pressures plunged to zero,
juices
of life that would never
flow
into the future stained
the
sad dance floor.
Shock spread across
the country,
across
the world, enough grief
to
last many lifetimes. Lost lives
cannot
be replaced.
Orlando pulled
together, offering
condolences
and help. From here
we
sent flor y canto, oraciones,
flowers
and poems, prayers.
Left
bereaved on this senseless
plain,
we wondered who killed the
Golden
Rule, Love Your Neighbor.
We mourn our fallen
comrades, our
gay
sisters and brothers, and after
grieving
we march to tear down the
barricades
of hate, bigotry,
prejudices. We
march to tear down
walls
that separate.
©2016
Rudolfo Anaya
6/19/16
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rudolfo Anaya
is a Mexican-American writer and educator, and Professor
Emeritus of English at the University of New Mexico. Anaya taught high
school and college courses while writing novels with groundbreaking Chicano
themes, and received acclaim for BLESS
ME, ULTIMA (1972), HEART
OF AZTLAN (1976) and TORTUGA (1979).
He has received numerous literary awards, including
the Premio Quinto Sol and a National Medal of Arts. He resides in Albuquerque,
New Mexico. His new book, THE
SORROWS OF YOUNG ALFONSO, is out now from the Oklahoma University Press. Visit them at www.oupress.com.
