Nemonte Nenquimo: The Woman of Many Stars
New York, NY
2023, Senior, Poetry & Spoken Word
Climate Hero: Nemonte Nenquimo, Ceibo Alliance
I.
In the night the world is endless
Uncontacted, undisturbed, unknown
To those who lie outside
There are no borders, only two titans
Napo and Curray, rivers touching what the land cannot
No Ecuador, only Waorani within
No lands to slash and burn
But trees to form a home
Cloaked in the velvet of midnight leaves
Boundless rivers of deep, thunderous blue
A people, a language, an Earth their
Glowing under the watchful eyes of many stars
II.
At dawn this world is ripped away
By those who claim to enlighten but seek to rule
Revealed and ravaged all at once
One red light that slew a thousand more
The shroud of stars and mystery forsaken
The endless ends—
Hands that cushioned in the night now callous
Clasped around a blade they cannot wield but only work
The heads that rested upon them hanging low
The macheteros march through the scorched land
Their names slashed like their own forest
Their ocean of protection drained
Here she was born
Nemonte Nenquimo
The woman whose name means many stars
An echo of the world before
A vision of the world to come
III.
She was raised in the day, yet carried spirit of the night
Like a scarlet macaw, from a forest far away
Raised on stories of that endless, untouched world
While her own turned to flames
They brought money, sickness, greed
Fueled by a lust for one sacred drop of oil
In a sea otherwise deemed worthless
Until Nomente fought back
In a language not her own
In a court not her own
Against a people not her own
She fought for the protection of her land
Consent of her people
And knowledge of what could be done
And it was not the phoenix, like in the legends of the outside
But the macaws that rose from the ash
Past the trees that towered once more
A shroud of scarlet like the old dawn
That stirred them from their humble slumber
That did not butcher refuge but create it
Flying toward a new tranquility
Changed but still sacred
IV.
As the sun sets, the land rests again
Reborn among the darkness they call home
Nemonte Nenquimo, the many stars
Shield them once more
A land no longer endless, yet something more important
Quantified: five hundred thousand acres undisturbed
As a symphony of lullabies
Memories of day and warnings of the days to come
Tentatively guide a sea of sound minds into slumber
Resting in a newfound sovereignty
Prepared to pave the path ahead
Reflection
My creative process initially raised feelings of disappointment and hollowness. I have a deep connection to and admiration of the Spanish-speaking world. Many of my family members have studied Spanish in college, learned Spanish as a second language, and even taught it to others. I also have many close family, friends, and relatives who are from Latin America; yet in my own experience with learning about Spanish and the many cultures of Central and South America, I am always haunted by the legacy of colonialism and the understanding that these cultures grew out of the conquest and extinction of countless others. In my piece, I chose to highlight Nemonte Nenquimo, an indigenous South American activist of the Waorani Nation, to acknowledge what has been lost and what there is left to protect. Additionally, I chose to explore the story of an activist from the Amazon, as its rainforests, on top of being home to numerous peoples, are a hub of biodiversity that has been forsaken in recent decades, and every day more species are lost due to humanity’s neglect. The actions of Nemonte Nenquimo, however, have taught me that there is still hope for the Amazon and the societies and species that inhabit it. Her work has secured half a million acres of protected space within the Ecuadorian Amazon and established coalitions of indigenous communities who stand together in the face of exploitation, proving that there is still a chance if people commit to protecting that which makes our world beautiful and unique.