It Is Not The Virus

Mabel Encinas is a Mexican artist and poet based in London, member of the Hispano-American Women Writers on Memory, who is also a senior lecturer in higher education in the UK. Writing and art has allowed her to process her experiences as a migrant woman, and to participate in the world. She is a member of Hispanic American Women Writers and Spanish and Latin AmericanPoets and Writers (SLAP). She has published in two collective works of poetry and narrative, and has a collection of poetry called 'Intimate View'.
by Mabel Encinas-Sánchez
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No es el virus

 

It is not the virus

ni el encierro

ni los momentos de explosión en casa,

que son pocos,

ni el extrañar tertulias

con amigas poetas,

ni el haberme perdido

de celebrar con mi familia en México

un cumpleaños que buscaba ser grande.

 

No es falta de museos ni de comidas fuera

ni la calificada del verano,

que fue mucha,

ni son los cubrebocas

ni el evitar las gentes en la acera

ni mi dolor de espada, ni los ojos resecos

ni el sentir que el trabajo

me rebosa los días y se derrama.

 

Son las mujeres asesinadas,

los niños maltratados,

la falta de refugio,

la impunidad

a la que la calle

no le hace falta.

 

Son las calles en llamas

por el racismo policial,

por el racismo, punto

Las manipulaciones,

los prejuicios que inflaman,

las Home Office que existen en estos lares.

 

Son eugenismos, clasismos,

oscurantismos,

represiones de Estado,

y los emperadores.

 

Es la codicia la que marca pauta,

y sus gobiernos

los que matan a las comunidades

y crean caos.

El virus sólo lo viene a coronar.

 

Estas son las pandemias

estas son las pandemias

que nos matan.

nor the confinement

nor the explosive moments at home,

which are few,

nor lacking the gatherings

with poet friends,

nor having missed

celebrating with my family in Mexico

a birthday that wanted to be special.

 

It is not the lack of museums or eating out

nor the summer marking,

which was large,

nor the masks

nor avoiding people on the sidewalk

nor my back pain, nor my dry eyes

nor the feeling that work

brims over my days and overflows.

 

It’s the murdered women,

the abused children,

the lack of shelter,

the impunity

which does not need

the streets.

 

It’s the streets on fire

from racist policing,

from racism, period

The manipulations,

the prejudices that inflame,

the hostility to migrants

around these parts.

The eugenics, classism,

obscurantism,

state repression,

and the emperors.

 

It is greed that sets the tone,

and its governments

who kill communities

and create chaos.

The virus only comes to crown it all.

 

These are the pandemics

these are the pandemics

that are killing us.

 

Mabel reads It is not the Virus as part of Fuerza London - a film commemorating the Latin American community's experience during COVID, through music, dance, poetry and real life stories. Watch Full film below

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