The World’s Greatest Magician!
I want to be the world’s GREATEST Magician
I don’t want to disappear people, then bring them back
And I don’t wanna pull cute little bunnies out of a hat
NO!
I want to be a Practical Magician
A Wizard of transformation
Shaman
High Priestess
Curandera
Brujita
Santera
An inventor of light in the midst of darkness
Making something out of nothing
Like when I didn’t have any money for clothes
And I taught myself how to sew
Modifying hand-me-downs and making them my own
Soon to be known as the Cubanita Magician entrepreneur
I could turn recycled Goodwill fabrics
into high fashion original couture
With creative alterations
That would have the whole cast of Project Runway
Turn their heads at my creations
This magic born from necessity
Poured itself into my fingertips
Like second nature
As if I’d had a dream
That I could master a sewing machine
And what do you know!
I woke up the next morning and I knew how to sew
Poof
Ache
Like Magic!
Cause when we don’t have enough of what we need
We make do with what we got
And YES….Life gets rough
But we’ll never NOT
Have plenty
And YES…we might have to get a Toyota instead of a Bentley
But who needs a Bentley when we’ve got MAGIC
Passed down from our ancestors
Who whisper to us gently
As we listen intently
To the knowledge they have brought
And we grow into magicians
Learn to manifest with our thought
We develop this skill
All our needs are fulfilled
All obstacles overcome
We make some
Where there is none
With magic!
Como cuando hay poco dinero pero un gran apetito
Cubanos can hook up some spam con arroz y huevo fritos
Cocinado en un sabroso sofrito
Para chuparse los deditos!!!
(y que no se te olviden los platanitos!)
Like my grandfather
Mi Abuelito
The magician of the kitchen
Who could use left-overs and make enough to eat
To feed our whole block plus our cousins who lived on another street
With just a leg of chicken,
Skin and bones
A slice of butter
A cup of water
And stale bread
A pinch of salt
And a drop of oil
In his pots, he would stir, fry and boil
Then place it in the oven on a sheet of tin foil
Let it cool off for the final phase
And our whole barrio would have chicken croquetas for days!
That appeal to even the pickiest eater
Who’ll grub it down faster than a parking meter
Cause who doesn’t want a piece of the magic?
Like bread and wine
We digest a piece of the divine
And we become Magicians!
Like my grandma
An herbal engineer
When Western Medicine fails to make your pain disappear
She can prescribe natural cures and plants that heal
Like my uncle who can turn an old beat up rusty Chevy automobile
Into the hottest new wheels
That fit like 10 people inside
We sit on each other’s laps and our thighs overlap
Like our English and our Spanish
Nobody really knows how we do it!
But we manage
And we cruise and we laugh
And we always overcome
We make some
Where there is none
With magic!
And we are not happy to be poor
But we are happy despite our poverty
We are not excited about our life struggles
But we are excited to be alive
Cause we are magicians
Making the impossible
Possible
The unimaginable
Tangible
Creating wealth where there is nothing
Fill voids with hope
And communities with resources
That’s why I wanna be the world’s greatest magician
Like poets and Musicians
And their power to ignite emotion
Setting our hearts in motion
Through a magical explosion of sound!
Like Billy Holliday’s Blues
Como la musica de Celia Cruz
Y los timbales de Tito
Que con su magia nos hace mover el culito!
Like Hip Hop
Like beatboxers making their mouths into instruments
B-boys and b-girls getting down and breakin it down
With their head spinnin around like magic
Like graffiti artists turning walls into canvases
And forgotten alleys into public art galleries
I wanna be a magician
Like little girls with big imaginations who can travel the world
Without ever leaving their backyards
Like single moms working two shifts and raising healthy beautiful children
Like the power of chocolate to magically eliminate PMS
It’s Magic!
Awomyn Amen
Ache
POOF
Like Magic
Like the power of spooning!
Just cuddle up behind someone’s rear
And it will make the worst of disputes disappear
I’m telling you…
When I am the worlds GREATEST magician
I will make Israelis spoon Palestinians
Mexicans spoon Salvadorians
And I’ll make homophobic men spoon their dads
And thus…create world peace
Magic!
Like how Mexicans were born knowing how to cook any dish from around the world!
Go to a Mexican Restaurant
There is a Mexican in the Kitchen
Go to an Italian Restaurant
There is a Mexican in the Kitchen
Go to a Chinese, Tawainese, Peruvian, Colombian Restaurant
There is a Mexican in the Kitchen
Poof!
Magic!
Like when I was little and I wanted a Christmas tree
And my mom, who thought spending money on a tree
that would be thrown out 2 weeks later
didn’t make any sense
And when you’re struggling and counting every cent
A Christmas tree is a luxury
And a wastefull expense
But on December 24rth
Our living room plant was filled with lights and ornaments
My mother
Also a magician
And I wanna follow in her legacy
Which is why,
I wanna be the worlds GREATEST magician
And with the flicker of my wand
Poof!
I would turn freeways into parks
Turn every Wallmarts into homeless shelters
Turn prisons into schools
And schools into SCHOOLS!
As the world’s GREATEST magician
I would make the Governor Undocumented
I would make Muslims, Chrisitans and Jews love one another
I Would turn Bush into an Iraqi mother
I would eliminate apathy and get rid of fear
And I would make crooked politicians –POOF- disappear
I would give people courage to stand up for their truth
And I would put a spell on cops so they stop harassing our youth
I would cleanse our communities from heroine and crack
And I would give Black people New Orleans back!
I would make fast food lovers into organic food lovers
And instead of Hot Cheetos and Lime Flavored Doritos
I would make children love veggies and fruits!
And I would tax corporations for how much shit they pollute
I would give people wings so they may learn how to fly
And I would make sexy lingerie fall from the sky
With a twist of my wrist
And a spoken command
I would conjure with my hands
And put a spell on all the land
So that it would profit ONLY the families of those who work it!
As the world’s GREATEST magician
There’s so much I plan to achieve
I got so many tricks tucked up my sleeves
That will spark the imagination of children
And remind grown-ups that it’s never too late to believe
In Magic!