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  For young people whose rivers of dreams

  are so varied and hopeful

  and for Laura Godwin with gratitude

  HISTORICAL NOTE

  Most US history books begin with colonization of the thirteen colonies by English invaders who conquered numerous Indigenous nations. However, the part of modern US territory that was colonized the earliest is Puerto Rico. As a result, Hispanic history in regions that are now called the United States spans more than five centuries. In addition, the Indigenous ancestry of mestizos on modern US territory extends for tens of thousands of years, and includes countless nations from all the Américas: North, South, and Central. Condensing every aspect into one book of poems would be an overwhelming task. All I’ve tried to do in Dreams from Many Rivers is portray a few glimpses of a vast and complicated past.

  With the exception of the first section about Borikén (Puerto Rico), I have used modern place names to avoid confusion since historically, place names changed quite often.

  Only Hispanic and Latino voices are included in Dreams from Many Rivers, with the exception of Indigenous Taíno voices in the first section. Fictional characters are indicated by first name only, while historical figures include a surname or title.

  I have made no attempt to explain the history and politics of countries of origin of US Latinos, because they include dozens of Latin American countries, as well as many other parts of the world.

  Television programs, movies, and popular culture often portray Latinos as impoverished barrio dwellers. The truth is that we live in every part of the United States, both rural and urban; poor, middle class, and wealthy. Our reasons for living in the United States range from being here before it became the US to arriving as refugees or arriving as highly qualified doctors, scientists, artists, and musicians. We are complex. We cannot be simplified.

  In order to write about US Latino history, I had to make two essential decisions. The first was facing the shameful atrocities of Spanish conquistadors and their descendants, including invasions, genocide, conquest, forced labor, persecution, and racism. Spanish invaders were just as brutal as English invaders, slaughtering Native Americans, enslaving the survivors, then importing enslaved people from Africa. This book is an attempt to portray our history honestly, rather than choosing to ignore the parts that we long to forget.

  The second decision was acknowledging that the history of the modern US begins in Puerto Rico, not Plymouth Rock or Jamestown, as is widely believed. Puerto Ricans are US citizens. They can travel freely between the island and mainland without passports. They pay taxes. But Puerto Rico is a territory, not a state. They are not allowed to vote in presidential elections. They often have to endure being mistaken for immigrants. This dual nature of Puerto Rico, with two languages and a confusing in-between status, strikes me as significant for anyone who has ever felt simultaneously accepted and rejected.

  Dreams from Many Rivers does not answer even a tiny fraction of the questions that a student might ask a teacher during Hispanic/Latino Heritage Month. I have my own series of enormous questions. Why has so much of the Latino experience been omitted from standard textbooks? Why are we so often reduced to a few absurd stereotypes? Why are invaders and conquerors glorified, while peacemakers are ignored? Why do we have to learn history’s truths on our own, instead of encountering our real stories in school? How can this drastic injustice begin to change?

  Y mi niñez fue toda un poema en el río,

  y un río en el poema de mis primeros sueños.

  And my childhood was all a poem in the river,

  and a river in the poem of my first dreams.

  JULIA DE BURGOS

  PART ONE

  FREEDOM

  A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE NATIVE PEOPLE OF BORIKÉN

  For thousands of years, the people who are now called Taíno lived by farming, fishing, hunting, singing, and dreaming of a future as free as the past. Men, women, and children believed in hope. The corners of fields held smooth sculptures to guard crops of manioc. The government was sophisticated and complex, with elaborate peacekeeping methods conducted by leaders called kacikes, and priests called behikes. On the walls of crystalline caves, beautiful designs were made by artistic hands. Enormous seagoing canoes carried visitors back and forth between Borikén (now known as Puerto Rico) and neighboring islands, such as Cuba and Quisqueya (now known as Hispaniola, which includes the Dominican Republic and Haiti). To this day, many Puerto Ricans still refer to their island as Borikén or Borinquen.

  COURAGE

  GUACARIGUA

  Borikén, 1491

  My mother says watch out for sharks

  in the sea, caimans in the river, hurricanes,

  scorpions,

  crumbling cliffs …

  but my greatest fear

  is too little adventure,

  not too much.

  No matter how fervently my mother worries,

  I need to explore, boldly trekking along all

  the wild edges

  of home.

  There will be time enough

  for caution

  when I grow old.

  DAYDREAMS

  YAIMA

  Borikén, 1491

  Are all little girls

  just as happy

  as I am

  when I swim

  with quiet manatees,

  telling them

  enchanting stories?

  HUNTER

  ABEY

  Borikén, 1491

  My work is tiring, but we need ducks

  to eat and crocodiles for making tools of teeth,

  bags from skin, long strips of roasted meat …

  Land, sea, and sky feed us,

  so that we’re never really hungry,

  except

  after visits

  from the guardian

  of storms.

  MUSIC FROM THE DEEP SEA AND HIGH SKY

  GUAMO

  Borikén, 1491

  Mouth pressed

  against a pink conch shell,

  I play a song

  to call

  rhythms

  down

  from

  trees,

  the rattle

  of palm leaves

  and festive squawks

  of raucous parrots

  as they join

  my aerial

  coral-reef

  melody!

  THE MAGIC OF CLOTH

  ALAINA AND YULURI

  Borikén, 1491

  Daughter and mother,

  we spin and weave

  cotton fibers for capes

  embroidered with feathers.

  Are we bird-girls?

  Yes, winged creatures

  of the sort children meet

  on a gentle morning


  of enchanting stories.

  THIS PEACEFUL FARM

  YABU

  Borikén, 1491

  I plant manioc and corn,

  the gifts of life.

  Each field is a sacred place

  where thirsty roots drink rain

  and sighing leaves chant gratitude

  to the generous sky

  for food.

  SHAPING CLAY

  ARIMA AND GUAJUMA

  Borikén, 1491

  Twin sisters, we take turns

  forming bowls

  and jars

  of wet earth

  with our skillful fingers.

  Then we trade places, painting

  designs of red and yellow minerals

  on each heat-dried surface

  to create the warmth

  of useful ceramics,

  our wealth.

  PART TWO

  SURVIVORS

  A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO CONQUEST AND RESISTANCE

  In 1492, an Italian invader called Cristoforo Colombo (also known as Cristóbal Colón and Christopher Columbus), arrived in the so-called “new world” with Spanish soldiers, fearsome weapons, European diseases, and a desire for spices to flavor European foods.

  Islanders defended their homeland, but the conquistadors were brutal newcomers who understood nothing, unable to speak any native languages or respect traditions of peace and friendship.

  Men, women, and children captured by Spanish invaders in West Africa were transported to the Caribbean islands on horrific ships. Enslaved people from many African nations were forced to work alongside the enslaved Taínos. Within a few generations, hundreds of thousands of Caribbean islanders were slaughtered by weapons or disease, and most of those who survived carried a blend of Indigenous, African, and Spanish ancestry, creating a unique mixture of languages and cultures.

  Meanwhile, Spanish invaders spread out in every direction, killing or enslaving millions of native people from thousands of Indigenous nations in North, Central, and South America.

  CONQUEST MEANS CRUELTY

  PEDRO DE ACEVEDO

  Puerto Rico, 1493

  As the cabin boy on this ship,

  I am a witness to the excitement

  of Colón, whose first journey reached

  other islands.

  Now, this second voyage brings us reality.

  It won’t be easy to find the spice trees we seek.

  When I see a boy around my age,

  I learn his name, Guacarigua.

  He will be one of the captives,

  a person enslaved.

  DEFIANCE

  GUACARIGUA

  Puerto Rico, 1493

  Our home is ours,

  not theirs.

  My freedom

  can’t be destroyed

  by these monsters.

  Their shields of hard metal

  and those long, two-bladed knives

  aren’t enough to keep me

  from running away

  seeking

  safety.

  REBELLION

  URAYOÁN EL CACIQUE

  Puerto Rico, 1511

  Invaders demand a tribute

  of four golden hawk’s bells

  per person

  per year.

  The glow of yellow stone is their only greed now,

  all those early demands for spice trees

  completely

  forgotten.

  Gold nuggets have already been mined

  from every river, but we are still enslaved,

  and our children are dying of smallpox,

  so I dream up a plan for escape by inviting

  lonely soldiers to the shore of a lake,

  where I promise to introduce them

  to women who will be their wives.

  I’m a leader, the kacike, so they believe me,

  but instead of matchmaking,

  I tell my people to drown a Spaniard,

  and then we rise up, fighting for freedom,

  until the troops of a brute called Ponce de León

  attack us with cannons, lances, crossbows, muskets,

  growling mastiffs,

  and galloping

  horses.

  We have our own weapons,

  light bows and arrows,

  heavy war clubs,

  and the weightless

  sky

  of

  soaring

  hope.

  FEROCITY

  JUAN PONCE DE LEÓN

  Puerto Rico, 1511

  My sword.

  Shiny metal.

  My armor.

  Glittering wishes.

  * * *

  I seize men, women, and children

  to work in the mines, but some dive into rivers

  and twirl away

  as swiftly

  as dolphins …

  * * *

  No matter, here are more.

  I’ll always find enough men, women, and children

  to enslave, people to slice hills and mountains

  in search of gold, silver, copper,

  and jewels.

  ESCAPE

  SERAFINA

  Puerto Rico, 1511

  When the first Agüeybaná was alive,

  he tried to get along with the brutal invaders,

  showing them where to sift flakes of gold

  from rivers. Then he died, and his brother

  became Agüeybaná II, our rebel leader.

  He almost succeeded, trying to defend

  my Taíno mother’s village,

  where brave men and women killed hundreds

  of my Spanish father’s

  armored soldiers.

  I’m just a girl, still small enough

  to slip away into the silent forest, hidden

  by shadows of peaceful trees that don’t care

  about my two battling origins.

  SURVIVAL

  GUACARIGUA

  Puerto Rico, 1520

  The highest

  most isolated

  slopes.

  Trickling streams instead of rushing rivers.

  Stillness—then one softly whistling bird.

  Or is that delicate music the song of another

  survivor, pretending to be winged?

  When I meet the runaway girl called Serafina,

  I know that I will love her forever, and our future

  will be safe here in this secret place

  of sheltering trees

  and hidden villages.

  NEVER ENOUGH

  JUAN PONCE DE LEÓN

  Florida, 1521

  Taínos, Africans,

  gold, silver, copper—these people

  are now thoroughly conquered, so I sail,

  while others around me claim

  that I plan my new voyage

  only in search of magical waters,

  a mysterious

  fountain of youth …

  even though my own truth

  is so much simpler, just this ravenous

  craving

  for shiny minerals,

  the glistening metals

  of wealth.

  IMAGINARY WEALTH

  ESTEBANICO DE DORANTES

  Texas, 1539

  A dying explorer, I murmur news

  of the wonders I’ve seen in this northern desert—

  or wonders merely imagined—for how

  can the feverish mind separate truth

  from wishes?

  Cíbola, city of turquoise and precious metals,

  sparkling

  in the distance …

  For centuries after my death

  surely every invader will seek

  this fanciful land that I describe

  so easily, allowing my name to live on

  in glowing legends,

  if not in the solid gold

  of life.

  POWER

  JUAN DE OÑATE

&nb
sp; New Mexico, 1598

  I was born in New Spain, not Europe.

  My family owns a silver mine in Zacatecas.

  My wife is the granddaughter of Hernán Cortés,

  who conquered the Aztec emperor Moctezuma—

  but my wife is also the great-granddaughter

  of that same defeated native emperor.

  She’s a mixed-race mestiza, child of two enemies,

  such a fitting origin

  for the mother of soldiers.

  When King Felipe II of Spain orders me to claim

  all the lands north of the Río Grande, I ride my horse

  across a wide, shallow river, hoping for the riches

  of Cíbola, where natives are said to dress themselves

  in emeralds and gold.

  Imagine my dismay

  when all I find are ordinary towns,

  small pueblos lit by the golden sun, surrounded

  by cornfields

  and bean vines.

  •

  My disappointed men threaten mutiny,

  so I keep them marching farther and farther,

  determined to be remembered

  as the founder of cities—El Paso

  and Santa Fe.

  My legacy of strength will be built

  atop ancient villages filled with the farms

  and bones

  of conquered tribes.

  My wife calls me brutal

  and greedy.

  VICIOUS

  VICENTE DE ZALDÍVAR

  New Mexico, 1598

  As Juan de Oñate’s nephew, I march