The Sound Of One Immigrant Clapping
after Czeslaw Milosz
by Adrian Castro
Let's say he actually
did not
arrive on a boat–
that the relentless colonel
never found his subtle throat hidden
under the trance of the clave
or thunder hands that spoke
repíques of those crimes
Let's say he went to Nueva York
on the assumption
Mario Bauzá
Machito or
Tito (Rodriguez or Puente)
could make his legs & hips move
in a constellation of joy
Let's say he merely
tried
to hear the echo of his arms
flapping through a factory
like a red rag fastened to that fan
Let's say the cold
often froze his vowels
tan Caribeña
tan resvalosa y mermelada–
Could the immigrant even
mute the melody of his tongue–
They say it is silence
that makes music
But this will be like
drumming
on a distant tuft of cloud like
the colonel cutting the sound he never found
But it takes years of forgetting
for a stranger
to breathe the salt water
or glance at a pile of stones
& say
I arrived through this portal
This is now my home…
Adrian Castro is a poet, performer, and interdisciplinary artist. He was born in Miami from Caribbean heritage, which has provided fertile ground for the rhythmic Afro-Caribbean style in which he writes and performs. He is the author of Cantos to Blood & Honey, Wise Fish, and Handling Destiny, all from Coffee House Press, and has been published in several literary anthologies including Conjunctions, Paper Dance: 55 Latino Poets; Little Havana Blues; A Century of Cuban Writers in Florida; Step Into A World: A Global Anthology of New Black Literature; and Renaming Ecstasy: Latino Writings on the Sacred. He is the recipient of a USA Knight Foundation Fellowship, a Cintas Fellowship, a State of Florida Individual Artist Fellowship, the NALAC Fund for the Arts Individual Fellowship, and the Eric Mathieu King award from the Academy of American Poets. Adrian Castro is also a board certified Doctor of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine and herbalist. "The Sound of One Immigrant Clapping" first appeared in his collection Wise Fish: Tales in 6/8 Time.