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mamá and papi
the constant reminders
that move my nostalgia back and forth
making grief and tenderness
the same thing

I sit down to revisit memories
me eñangoto
I scrabble as if looking for ñame
skirting the shore of an archipelago
of memory
so bombed
that it scattered from the highest mountain peak
to the furthest corner of Vieques
—I only remember horses
and a millenary root—

roses, orchis, bateas, cactus, coffee, plátanos, ajíes caballeros, mud, rain, mountains, ghosts, snakes, cold, sorullos, hot chocolate, manteca, man, pitorro, teas, broken welding (…)

I try to decipher time’s code
unblock memories
free voids like a flash flood
while a little chágara
hides under a rock
trying to survive
the current’s impact

Ketsia Ramos is a transdisciplinary artist from Adjuntas, Puerto Rico, artist in residence of Taller Libertá, and founder of Edtorial Casa Cuna and the festival LA JUNTILLA. They have exhibited their work for more than a decade across the Caribbean and South America in an effort to decentralize the arts. Their recent publications include Selección de poesía inédita (2019) and Aceite de palo (2022), with both poetic works focusing on self-knowledge, healing, and violence from a decolonial Caribbean perspective. Ketsia Ramos es artista transdisciplinaria de Adjuntas, Puerto Rico. Es artista residente en Taller Libertá y fundadore de Editorial Casa Cuna y el festival LA JUNTILLA. Lleva una década exponiendo su trabajo en el Caribe y Sudamérica en un esfuerzo por descentralizar las artes. Sus publicaciones recientes llevan como título Selección de poesía inédita?(2019) y Aceite de palo (2022), ambas obras poéticas enmarcadas en el autorreconocimiento, la sanación y la violencia con una mirada decolonial del Caribe.

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