Seeking Lost Tribes

Foreign and familiar, there is sadness
in his eyes when he looks in the mirror. 

There are no gods to save such a
beast of burden, such a
half human. A hybrid. Nor does he
care for their propaganda. Instead,
his sadness sighs before him because
he knows so little of his ancestors,
of the past that cultivated him.

He is from somewhere else.

He places his fingers on the craters of his face;
Searches for footprints left behind by his great
and not-so-great grandparents. 

The Iberian,
the Brit,
the Italian,
who took to the seas for promise
of riches in the Americas.

The Africans from a continent impaled
and gutted by the very same men who searched
for El Dorado’s gold.

And the Amerindian women whose legs
were forced open, because with “savages,”
when the holy book did not civilize,
every kind of purifying means was justified.

His beard bites at his fingers, as if walking
on a sheet of nails. He’s careful to not apply
too much pressure. He fears what
he will discover in his blood if pricked
and the scars reopen.

Hunched, his Emberá Katío eyes
wander across the map of his face,
seeking lost tribes.

Author:

Julián Esteban Torres López

Julián Esteban Torres López (he/him/él) is a multiply neurodivergent, Colombia-born storyteller, public scholar, and culture architect with Afro-Euro-Indigenous roots. For two decades, Julián has worked toward humanizing those Otherized by oppressive systems and dominant cultures. He is the founder of the social justice storytelling non-profit organization The Nasiona, where he also hosts and produces The Nasiona Podcast. He’s a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best Small Fictions nominee; a Trilogy Award in Short Fiction finalist; and the author of Marx’s Humanism and Its Limits and Reporting On Colombia. Julián's work appears in PANK Magazine, Into the Void Magazine, Novus Literary and Arts Journal, Havik 2021: Inside Brilliance, Moonchild Magazine, Alebrijes Review, and The Acentos Review, among others. His poetry collection, Ninety-Two Surgically Enhanced Mannequins, is available now.