koyaha · irudahialo · karariwa
Taíno in diaspora · transmedia artist
al colibrí is a Taíno in diaspora, living and working on the lands of the peoples of Tkaronto. He is a transmedia artist who experiments with digital video, gaming, poetry and non-fiction, and focuses on themes of spiritualized nature, the tenderness of grief, ancestral kinetics, and playful decadence. When he isn't critically fabulating, he moonlights as a professor at multiple universities in Canada and the US and is a father of two little love goblins (emphasis on the goblins).
ka hebeyo'no
Gua'arikawabu Naiko aban Hewibo hiana ka yuca Ka kawia k'akirikatti Wa itaa le bu abon'o Wa eibun'no le bu kanowa Axahawa a yoba kaya'no Aita'ni yara le aba hamaka bia'bu Yaha alu ka inkayeke
We see you Little one Ripening like the yucca The waxing pumpkin moon Our blood is your rivers Our bones are your canoe Wander to many islands Knowing there is a hammock for you Here in the village
arawak
Bu amariha kuiriba'no oma da Bu karuda kasabi oma da Mei da kuwata da anaka Kena bu anuka tuei le waiba'ki lan da
You make friends with me You break bread with me Then I turn my back And you take what's left of me
february
Something about the violining trees in winter allows the grief to ease and sway Uncongealing like the thawing swamps Budding green algae in the cool air Chlorophyll calm Life is on the way That "ivy vines on a deadwood" chill A sun-dappled trunk beating heart, to a tune unhurried by human ears Black squirrel rhythm Wrestling tambourine leaves A winter blues becomes spring jazz Yet it's February, and life is still better in twos
bayou · published
Gimme that swamp song Breeze, water-falling through tree leaves Thick, musky, oak half-dead Aching with lively Quivering pond scum The thump and rave of birdsong Feral shades of green Duckweed Sultry obscenities Unashamed and lusty Bantered between them thirsty birds That deep summer soul A butterfly hustler flits on by With a side eye And flickering brows Paper skin queen of the bayou Crown-shy yet flirty Trill O de ley o de ley Pop Snatch Thistle prick Nature's sound and slurry Brackish pleasures Sap-slick menageries Roots and vines in orgy Shagbark hickory Virginia creeper Sassafras Ecstasy All of it moan-touched Throaty And in heat Singing While a tall white ash Bare limbed and hungry Hangs rootedly in beat To the summer swamp swing And the distant sounds of Spreading wings and morning dove groans
read at the League of Canadian Poets →cemís
This is an ode to the small gods Tobacco stones and prayer beads Raven on a power line Tarot card, sunflower seed teary-eyed incense Candlelight and wind chime Song sung in the deep of night Gold scarab in a sewage ditch half-danced rattles And daggers prayer-licked with blood Salt bowl amulet sage smoked fan Crystal, string, and braids Faded shell and feather in flight Tattooed shadow on the firelit wall of a cave Cairns and clustered stars And that single tree standing tall in the meadow You who touch the fingers of the big gods Ever present listeners We see and smell and sing For you who actualize our hope Hang softly round our necks held gently in palms Calm hearts with beats And breath make sense and divine sensuality Visualing the world with meaning You are the truly mattering gods Brick and mortar gods Mud and sewage gods Pain and pleasure gods Oh mighty living ones May our bodies be your temples of worship
Deleuze, Welles, and the forger — a film that creates an event · visual essay
watch on Vimeo →