———after Pupy y los Que Son Son

 

In a montuno
we want a razor
of a chorus, lines
to cut the skin.
We want a horn
imposing its long
body near the body
of the song.
We want a bell
that may well
banish our demons.
We want Pupy
to propel Mandy
& Pepito into multitudinous
tumbaos. We want
to be flung into vicious
breaks. We want a gnarled
confidence to shake
the meekness from our
bones. We want to know
what music the boy
David had in his ears
before he slayed
Goliath. We want
all of that all-consuming
fire. We want to be possessed
by Ogún. We want his machete
in hand. We want the zeal
of a God we’ll never
understand.

 

 

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Alfonso “Sito” Sasieta is a Peruvian-American poet and dancer living near Washington, DC. He is a principal dancer for the Cuban dance company DC Casineros, and his poems have been published in The Christian Century, America Media, Sojourners, and elsewhere.

 

 

 

Photo by Alena Jarrett on Unsplash