REMEMBER WHEN YOU SWEEP

Photo above is of Diandra's mother and her teammates performing as an Escaramuza in the 1980s.

A poetic reflection on cultural and ancestral connections. One part poem, one part blog entry.

🦋 

Remember when you watch the butterflies swim

gently and boldly scooping the wind,

people listen briefly to the lessons of land

learning to prepare for new skies’ demands

Their spirits return winged, riding winds as they shift

They return to prepare us, stirring memories as gifts 

Their flutters, so fleeting, tell us lores of time

Grounding us in the delicacy and beauty of life

🌽 

Remember when you feel the masa pull slow

your palms being guided by the pillowy flow

Water makes new as it spreads and seeps

Bringing alive the life that sleeps

Turning seed to corn and dirt to clay

Through our hands that mold the grounds where we lay

We gratify more than the simple needs of our own

We nourish just being so being can be known

🕯

Remember when you smell branches crack and weaken

From the glow, smoke rises, streaming up from a beacon

It is we who create paths that nourish communal tides

Through thanks, remembrance, or the sharing of strides

Guidance is revealed when what breaks starts to flower

Grounded, hope resting in the ash creates power

Intentions are designed to feel the blending of airs

So the new growth that climbs can answer earth’s prayer

💨 

Remember when specks float softly in the air

from sweeping the grounds, your past floating mid-air

to cleanse your space is to pronounce your will

to awaken the growths we only collect uphill

Your memory strokes dust of all that’s now gone

And awakens the soul of all that’s thrived on

Your body feels heavy storing depths of grief

but we create new strengths with each breathe, each sweep

Diandra's Mother, Queen of United States Charros

photo by @ellaonearth.co

As a humble little protégé of the earth and her knowledge keepers, it’s with much appreciation and honor that I create space to breathe a little life into evergreen meanings that sometimes dwindle when we lose our cultural connections. Branching from here, I also find so much joy in seeing that the lessons my ancestors gifted me had similar births across lands, cultures and people. Nature is a beautiful teacher and gifts us daily reminders of how connected we all are.

This poem, initially inspired by my mother, is dedicated to ancestral lessons that we have embedded in life’s simple moments as reminders of all that makes existence meaningful.

It turns out, the symbolism of butterflies is an ode to not only how my ancestors unlocked their own philosophies about life’s fleeting beauty, but a whimsical symbol across many cultures of transformation and hope. Living in physical structures that render our connection to nature rather flavorless, it’s through the celebrations our ancestors designed for us that I’m reminded of how much of that connection we keep alive ourselves. The way butterfly migration patterns were woven into myths about loved ones visiting or being ushered back to us on Dia De Los Muertos is just one example of how much of that connection we preserve and nurture with the planet and with each other.

Nearing the top of the list of other relatively universal icons of warmth and love must be dough! I remember watching, eyes barely peeking above the large bowl, my Nana instinctively measuring the water she’d pour into the masa. A direct contrast to this feeling, was the hustle and bustle of false aspirations and empty goals I experienced in my early twenties. Despite watching my Nana and my mama pour water on so many aspects of life worth nurturing - family + community - I once found myself spiraling into a speeding life cutting through decisions for me - a robust network of life passing so blankly. All because I thought the answer was to branch out and “take life by the horns”, and where better to prove one’s strength than the glitter coated grit of New York City? Horn grabbing, if you will, was certainly not the answer. The answer was to nurture things for the people around me and for myself. So rather than be stubbornly ambitious for the sake of meaningless resume add-ons, I’m learning to patiently measure all the ways I can experience meaning + joy alongside people I love.

Speaking of patience…Learning to exist as a young girl in a culture with its own complexities around familial accountability dried up the potential for any early learnings of remediation that likely would have made me a much less avoidant and intimated little soul. I suppose I could find ease in knowing that remediation is spearheaded by a mature few - but I find most solace in reminding myself that in moments where I’ve fallen flat on my face, failed to deliver, or created harmful roadblocks, there have been those who loved me enough to tell me how they wish I would have engaged differently, and that they trust my intentions to heal my missteps, redirecting them down a path where we can walk side by side. I’m no scientist, but I’m certain that those memories alter the entire chemistry behind the social anxieties that sometimes grip me and ripen my own ability to extend trust.

Existence is full of infinite lessons we’re grateful for, but grief is always a most unwelcome mentor. In my personal study of Mesoamerican history, I’ve learned of the sacredness of sweeping and a reading that has stayed with me was an account of the women in Tenochtitlan during the development of Spanish conquest who, despite the uncertainties of the future of their families, their people, their culture, all rose and reached for brooms to sweep the roads after the Spaniards fled the city, uncertain what battles and ills would ensue next. Between the smallest and largest challenges, to sweep is an act of resistance.

DIANDRA MARIZET ESPARZA

Is a community + connection advocate. Diandra has used her experiences across business, fashion + social enterprise to help co-found Intersectional Environmentalist, and today functions as the organization’s executive director. Diandra uses her work to elevate intersectional sustainability through the lens of social impact + culture and is passionate about creating pathways for our ability to ongoingly study how our relationships with the environment can nurture community wellness, culture, and advocacy for people + the planet.

Follow her work @diandramarizet