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about

“The Wind” is a story that follows the survivors of settler colonialism as they search for remnants of their cultures, heritages, peoples, identities, and homes on Turtle Island and Africa.

The story centers two characters: the wind (Indigenous children torn away from their parents and nations via residential/boarding school initiatives) and the fireflies (descendants of enslaved Africans throughout the Americas). The wind searches for its mother as a form of rematriation, validation, and healing. In this process, the wind stumbles upon the fireflies, who are also on their own pilgrimages.

The wind and the fireflies journey to find their cultural, social, and historical roots under environments that have whitewashed their past, erased them from history, invalidated their experiences, gaslighted them, vilified them, and attempted (at times succeeded) at genocide.

Yet, as they come to realize, even those with lit paths can feel lost at times. Even those of us who can trace our lineages to specific regions of the world can still feel invisible, adrift, misplaced, dehumanized, and cast away by intentionally designed systems of oppression and cultures of domination that continue to be part of our society’s legacy.

lyrics

The wind was born without a shadow.
Nature's miscarriage gave birth to a ghost.
But like love
the wind is felt
not seen

and even though the wind heavily breathes
it still questions its very being …
searches for some sort of sign
that will provide answers for its queries …

for when it hovers above ponds and lakes
there is no reflection to prove
that the wind's fingers actually do run
through fields of grass

for we are told reflection is existential
only in geometric form
and nonexistent if there are no points to be placed
upon a coordinate system.

During its journey
the wind brushes by fireflies
—they worship the sun.
Even those with lit paths feel lost at times.

The wind tries to hold its breath
as it breezes by them
so as to not distract them from their pilgrimage
or blow out their lanterns.

Even though they worship different gods
—the fireflies and the wind—
they understand one another.
They bow their heads as if saying,
"Good luck on your journey, also."

So, the wind now wanders
by means of wonder …
tries to find its mother
within a whirl of hope.

It prays:
"Maybe Mother will be able to clarify
the question
of my being
if I find her?
For, if I have a mother means
I was born.
And if I was born,
then I may
still
exist...”

credits

from SFUMATO, released January 31, 2022
"The Wind" was originally published in Rigorous Magazine, Volume 5, Issue 2.

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Julián Esteban Torres López image

Julián Esteban Torres López Kailua Kona, Hawaii

Julián Esteban Torres López, a divergent polymath and multi-hyphenate artist, explores how we engage with, make sense of, heal from, and transform the nature-nurture of being. His trauma-informed creations and expressions examine heritage and existential concerns with care and nuance through a decolonial prism. ... more

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