“Recognition”
By: Aneshia Savino for DATMA’s “Being Seen” public art collective tapestry.
I questioned being seen from the first breath
After all, our rallying cry is “Silence equals Death.”
Triangulating today’s currents requires tactics more deft
It was workers’ pride over Puritans’ shame for Dr. Marie Equi
In Paul Clayton’s days, however, secrecy was the key,
David Boyce gave his image to a bronze statue in New York City
These icons of history were swimming upstream,
Buoyed by all the kinfolk that history won’t see
Being seen can be a privilege, or maybe a target
Who can find care for children or elders, or take time off work,
Whose papers are mismatched, or they’ve no wish to “pass”
Who can traipse the snared grounds of grants and finance
Who can find housing, health care, and work/life balance
Recognition combusts when history’s mirror is broken
A retelling that’s distracted, impacted, refracted light is unfocused
Being seen requires good lighting, a stage, and, gods please,
A willing audience excited to also be seen
Learned that at the Z,
New Bedford High School, Block D
Popped cherries at 20 Cent Fiction, oh, Rocky!
Being seen’s not just drama, the high-performance arts,
Survivors of Colonization, the Red and Lavender Scare, to start
Civil Rights Protest Leaders and AIDs caregivers grew beyond their scars
Recognize us now, everywhere, everywhen, everywhy
We are fish cutters, and store clerks, and work nine to fives
Artists designing clothes, hair, and tattoos,
Tias and Uncles at cookouts, all-nighters, last-minute rides,
Programmers, teachers, makers, and reporters of news
So, who isn’t seen, and who isn’t here?
Do you see mycelium of mutual aid and kinships so queer?
Do you see families huddled seeking shelter from the I.C.E. storm?
Do you see inside the cocoon, a hidden place to transform?
The Unseen is complex, filled with spreadsheets, conversations, and chores
To hell with perspective, orientation, occidental aesthetics,
Breathe in full embodiment and embrace all your senses
No one Pride fits all, it’s a multifaceted diamond
Let this polychrome vision seduce you, entice you, beguile,
Recognizing your transgressions are more than worthwhile
Being seen goes both ways and requires consent
Let us see you as the mortar betwixt our bricks,
Summer wind in our sails, in a shared context,
The culture we breathe, the yarns that we spin,
To share grief and joy as though we are kin
The Law of Salvage weaves together what can be known
Puzzle pieces still missing from disparate hearts, lands, and bones
Being seen and seeing the tasks left to do,
A flotilla of spirits, friendships of endurance, sails swirling round,
Charting turbulent water, navigating futures yet to be found
–
About the poet:
Aneshia Savino is a New Bedford-based cultural worker & artist exploring the relationships between language, plants, and embodiment. Current practices include studying Yiddish language, dance, crafting choreography, poetry, and zines, and concocting herbal art and remedies. Find them co-creating dance rituals with Transfiguration (RI), organizing with the Queer Art Council, or at New Moon Dance Party, curating the Marie Equi Zine Library. Aneshia Savino’s website is https://sites.google.com/view/liminalcuriosity and their social media.
Many of you who have been following DATMA since the beginning knew our Co-Founder, Roger Mandle. It was not shared with many that he dedicated a portion of his time to creative writing and had a passion for poetry. We continue the tradition of commissioning an original work each year to honor Roger.