This bejeweled, insurgent Isle;
This mythic, Emerald Palenque, this
Sophisticated Citadel, holy with
insurrection leaping from her loins.
Hola, Cuba! Land of Caribbean Spanish
Empire; O mocha Enchantress,
Your Songoro Consongo chants Congo
Rhythms in Tomorrow’s dawn.
Womb-land forever sensual and lithe,
Your skyline’s profound architecture
Mirrors Spain and Africa forever
Fused in erotic embrace. Your urban
Palette a symphony of glorious colors:
Azure, pink, gold, scarlet, lime; madrigals
Of Spanish elegance blossom in tropic shadows.
Steamy nights riddled with Slavery’s deep pain
birth History’s incandescent hurricanes:
Oya rising in storms of compasinos
Bristling with machetes, and fierce barbudos
Calling: Fidel, Fidel, Fidel!
Che’, Juan & Camillo bring justice in a hail
of liberating fire. Hola, Cuba! Land of
Future triumph, proud in the resurrected
Vision of a new age…I, a maroon
From Babylon, salute you. Hola, Cuba!
Let your Son of Guillen, insistent dignity
Illuminate a battered, mutilated world.
Womb-land of the New Man/Woman rising
In the dawn of Socialism’s promise.
Isle of immortal orishas singing in the
Fascinating warmth of your dusky people.
Hola, Cuba! Let men/women everywhere
Join your great Red Voyage into new
Possibilities dancing the rhythms of love.

Askia with Cuban Poets Nancy Morejón and Pedro Perez-Sarduy

Cuban Poet Don Pablo Fernández with Askia

Activist Bob Brown, Kwame Ture’s sisters with Askia

Freedom Fighter Assata Shakur with Askia