My Wishes for 2014
By Guillermo Gómez-Peña

I wish that all my artist friends find a dignified job closely resembling their dreams and obsessions.

I wish that all my activist friends find the spiritual strength to continue fighting the many necessary fights on all fronts.

I wish that radical grace and uncompromising aesthetics remain the driving forces of my troupe.

I wish that all my friends and their friends find tender lovers to survive the loneliness of the American night.

I wish for the homeless of the world to find food, shelter and friendship. These are basic human rights.

I wish that all the greedy landlords trying to evict the working class suddenly wake up with amnesia and an empathetic heart.

I wish for all migrants to cross the borders they wish to cross successfully & safely.

I wish that Obama has an epiphany while he is taking a shit and remembers who he is.

I wish for the new pope to become truly radicalized and get lost every night in the streets of Vatican City catering to the poor and destitute.

I wish for the prison industry to collapse; for black and Latino youth to find a place of dignity in America.

I wish for the global project to continue derailing ad nauseam.

I wish for America to stop fearing otherness and diversity; and for white Americans to become less self-involved, arrogant & entitled.

I wish for the masterminds and perpetrators of war and violence to experience a daily living and unbearable hell; payback can’t wait for their next reincarnation.

I wish that all indigenous peoples continue to find ways to survive and thrive against all corporate and government odds and monsters.

I wish my mother remained a little longer on this earth. So many of us still need her poetic tenderness and quantum guidance.

I wish that my inner demons make truce with themselves. They drive me crazy, especially at night, especially in the U.S.

I wish to make peace with my intergalactic orphan-hood and with each of my multiple identities.

I passionately commit to make all these wishes come true, even if only in the realm of imagination, poetry, grassroots activism and art.

(I wish to thank Emma Tramposch and Anastasia Herold for helping me to organize my poetic thoughts)



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