December, 2000 Volume 3, Issue 3 Past Issues About dis/content Editorial Collective Contributors Contact Us Submissions Links Home   Poems by Puerto Rican Women [continued] The Kingdom of the Few by Magaly Quiñones (from En la Pequeña Antilla) I am of those who have bled, I hold the hand of a man, I hold the hand of a woman, a child stands on my heart. I am of those who rebel, I was born in every poor household, I walked across all lack, choked in the clutches of a man who did not let me read verses. I famished in la Perla of Old San Juan, agonized in the barrio of New York, rotted in the sewers of the eternal Paris, became woman in Chile, grew old in the ruins of Peru. I am still of them, of the simple, of the irreverent illiterate. I flee in every man that flees after a brutal deathblow of the right, in each defecting mercenary, I defend every space I want to comfort every tear . . .  because I am of them, of the most, of the many and I celebrate life even though I am anguished that nobody consulted me to bring me into this world, this kingdom of the few. Previous section     Next Section     Table of Contents