“Imaginary Photo Album or, When We Die, Our Polaroids Speak to Our Living Descendants” is a collaboratively written poem originally published by the Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day (May 23, 2022) and is also featured in We the Gathered Heat: Asian American and Pacific Islander Poetry, Performance, and Spoken Word, edited by Franny Choi, Bao Phi, Noʻu Revilla, and Terisa Siagatonuby Haymarket Books, 2024. Art 25 has led collaborative writing workshops based on “Imaginary Photo Album…” at Pacific Islander Ethnic Art Museum (Long Beach), and elsewhere.
Imaginary Photo Album or, When We Die, Our Polaroids Speak to Our Living Descendants
To Keep
the memories nimble, place your fingers inside the mouth of her hair.
The history there is one motion, told and retold by millions of bodies
over hundreds of years. Sister, mother, grandmother, aunt, cousin,
lover, friend, partner, braid me. Keep the tales of what we cannot forget here.
To Float
think of silted braided rivers. Now extricate the rivulets. Use your tongue.
Can you discern salt from iron or shell from shale? This is what it is like
to make a world with words.
To Re-grow
a tongue, pull it from beneath silt at the bottom of the sea.
If it is knotted, frayed, tangled, you can take up my voice. Look for my
feathers in dust, find my matted feathers in the surf. There, make
a nest for me. Gather shells and driftwood. Dig a small bowl
in the sand. Let the patterns arrange themselves into a beautiful thing.
Ask me to come, and you will find me on the horizon, glittering.
To Claim
you we claimed ourselves. We touched the surfaces of mirrors
with no reflections. Hic sunt leones. Here there are lions. Here are waves.
Imagine us a tide of lions crashing on sandy shores, returning for what is ours.
To Unfold
into a receptacle for holding joy, entrust your tender heart to another.
Look. We are more than our scars. We hold the memory of trauma
in our roots. And still, here is a moment of pure joy. See how our chests
shake the air with a trust manifested from generations of resilience?
Reach for each other. Embrace. Grow flowers with your lungs.
Copyright © 2022 by Art 25: Art in the 25th Century. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on May 23, 2022, by the Academy of American Poets.
Collaborative Poem Workshop at PIEAM
Kinship: We as Future Ancestors
A collaborative poem by Pamela, Alex, JP, Jacob Cruz-Rine, Tiara Na'puti, Lucy Montelongo, Judy, Annalee, Mariquita, ever galván huerta, Edward,Tina, Vince, Leialani Wihongi-Santos,Tara Kitagawa, Martha, Ellie Lipton, Angela, Fatima Gonzalez, Kiki Rivera, Gabriela, Sinqlei Skipps, and Heidi Chargualaf Quenga, arranged by Art 25: Art in the Twenty-fifth Century.
To give, connect without reservation.
Hold without holding.
Wield emptiness as understanding.
Remember.
To inspire wisdom means to encourage learning,
to wield the courage of grandmothers.
Remember where you come from
and the values you were taught.
To ground,
listen, see, love, connect, and attune others to the oneness of our collective source.
Wield the timeless, healing, power of presence.
It transforms, transmutes, illuminates.
Be of the fullest expression: stewards who consciously care for all beings.
All of life is contingent
upon curiosity, nonattachment, kindness, peace.
To eat,
find the deliciousness and joy in life.
There is much power in fragrance.
Remember how good it feels when your belly is satisfied.
Ahh!
To commune,
gather the people we love and admire
for power, for fun, for thought, for goodness.
To commune is to wield the strength of i tåsi.
No one accomplishes anything completely alone.
It's okay to ask for help.
In fact, there is power in it.
To be generous means to love, to care for.
Brandish the abundance of i halom tåno.
Recall your family's contributions.
To forgive means to be open.
Listen.
To put new possibilities into motion, wield relief instead of rebuke.
Wield care with abandon.
Learn from every mistake to prepare a good future.
To pave the way, open up opportunities considered unreachable.
Be a passion capable of carrying souls to the future,
and overcome obstacles seemingly larger than you.
To empower, be unafraid of your authentic self.
Bear a fiery torch and be honest with yourself.
Love those closest to you.
To be fierce, stand with conviction and without fear.
Carry the knowledge that you are held.
Your shield will remind you that your possibilities are infinite.
To generate, create and provide with openness, compassion, and respect.
You, with all the power of a seed.
Don’t forget to water as needed.
To love and care, choose empathy over judgement. Build power, space,
and community.
We are the same. Listen. Listen.
Radishes grow outside the kitchen.
With grace and accountability, our people will also grow.
Hold the sun, the rain, stillness.
Be known. Be present.
In your arms, carry a sanctuary, ocean waves.
We are more alike than different. We owe each other
a better world.
To nurture, provide support, love, and resources.
Carry responsibility.
Remember! You only live once.
Hold close the people in your life.
To pulan means to bring full moon light, infinite
care and nourishment.
There is always time for pleasure
and laughter.
To accept,
make space for all types of people, along with their differences.
Say the most surprising thing at the most apropos time.
Wield: mother nature, the power of resilience, yet still–
protect yourself.
Even when you're alone, you are always seen, always heard
from the other side of the veil.
To be honest admit the things you don't want
to take responsibility for.
With testimony, remember how bad it feels to lie.
To bring light means to show a way forward,
into the darkness when grief and overwhelm and sadness
steal possibility.
To bring light, wield the power of the moon, sun, and the heavens.
You are the light. What turns you on? Go find it!
To be thoughtful,
leave behind answers to the next generation's questions with songs, chants, and dances that will fill their souls and hearts.
Bear the dreams within.
In our movements, we reach for our roots.
What we do today is for those yet to come.
To sail, resist the winds of empire.
Instead, be propelled by the breath of ancestors.
Carry the adze. Carve the canoe.
The future lies in the past.