How to Awaken a Sleeping Language

Taíno in our blood

and on our tongues

stirs, yawns, rises,

no longer lost.

We ignore old historians

who tell us we are extinct.

We chant our ancestors’ first words every day---

iguana, tiburón, manatí, yuca, huracán, cuba,

hamaca, canoa, quiskeya, maíz, borikén.

The search for lost verbs continues.

We have to estimate pronunciation,

spelling, and punctuation.

There was no need for fragile paper

on our home islands

in 1491.

Glyphs were written on stone

carved

indestructible

permanent.

Alive

awake

singing

just like us.