I am maria!

Tag: Poem

  • Love is a bird

    Love is a Bird

    Love is a bird,

    she’s singing her song,

    they said out of key,

    but boy they was wrong,

    their minds so nasty.

    She’s singing her song,

    she doesn’t care,

    love is a bird,

    free in the

    air. . .

    This creative work emerges from practice-based autoethonographic research where the performative work, I am Maria! functions as a site of investigation and transformation. A source which ignites creativity and self expression. A wamr invitation to explore more of my work here in my creative world.

  • Past her Prime

    Past her Prime

    They say I’m a woman”

    past her prime”who’s

    “run out of time”

    but,

    I have the ability to see the me,

    who was 20. . .

    Trapped in the loop of being the good girl,

    no mistakes allowed, trying hard,

    to make mama proud …

    then at 30. . . 

    It was the same.

    Playing that game, but now, I’m a mother,

    with another,

    other. . .

    Then came 40, still selflessly giving,

    then came 50, the reckoning. . .

    the veil lifted,

    clarity gifted,

    wont’t play the game,

    won’t be tame,

    won’t tone down,

    not going to stop,

    telling my story,

    even when they say,

    “you’ve had your day”

    “you look bad!”

    Oh, it just makes me mad!

    How dare they say,

    I’ve had my day!

    I’m not finished yet,

    I’ve earned the right, don’t you forget!

    They say, “she’s passed her prime”

    “run out of time”

    But honey, I’m only just getting started. 


    Look at me! 

    Look carefully!

    Take a picture if it helps you see!

    This is my time I’m moving into the light, 

    because it wasn’t right,

    what went on before,

    it’s time to open that other door,

    emerge from


    being told,

    “you’re too old”

    it’s “time to fade”

    They say I’m past my prime.

    But they’re wrong,

    It’s my time.

    I see the mirror,

    my reflection.

    It’s time now to reveal. . .

    The real

    The true

    The one and only. . .

    You.

    A warm invitation to learn more about I am Maria!

    What is I am Maria!

  • You Always Were My Little Angel

    You Always Were My Little Angel

    He said, “you always were my little angel,”

    in another time in another place,

    when I had another face,

    his little girl before. 


    The illness took his mind. He couldn’t find

    the essence of who he was.

    I tried and tried to see ,

    if he recognised me,

    everytime I went,

    the illness didn’t relent,

    It was sad,

    I wanted my Dad,

    but there was nothing we could do,

    he was hidden within the maze of the brain and he would never be the same.

    As time goes on and age sits in,

    I always think back to that day when,

    his eyes dim, looked at me to say,

    “You were always my little angel.”

    These poetic works emerge alongside the research, functioning as immediate expressions of voice, identity, and transformation.

    More Poems!

  • I look in the mirror

    I look in the mirror and what do I see, a woman? A girl?

    Waiting to be free….of all that they told her she had to be…

    Of the connotatations,

    the assumptions, the bringing down,

    of her pretending to be the clown,

    not feeling enough,

    not being tough,

    not moving forward,

    but staying stuck,

    in the muck of the past

    unknowingly…contributing tomaking it last,

    I look in the mirror and all I can seeis a woman a girl,

    waiting to go free!

    This video marks a new beginning for a poem originally written for I am Maria!. It now emerges as a moment of transformation and transfiguration of voice and artistic self, unfolding within a new paradigm.

    This work is not a standalone piece, but an evolving fragment that will form part of the live immersive performance I am Maria: Bloom.

    Visual material by Valeria Pazos (PhD candidate, Mexico), whose imagery forms part of this evolving collaboration.

    See more of Valeria’s work @valeria_pazosf

    See more of my sonic experiments

    Sonic Experiments

  • The Black Ribbon – Marama Crnu

    Marama Crnu – The Black Ribbon

    He couldn’t forget her face – her smile, her laugh, her perfume.

    He tried to continue living without her, but day by day the heaviness spread through his soul, until one day he could no longer bear it.

    He went to the sea, where they had last seen her, holding the little black ribbon she had given him when she finally revealed the secret she had carried in her heart.

    Volim te, she said.

    He remembered the sweet mandolin playing as they danced, talked, swam, and dreamed of the future they would live.

    Now, holding tight the marama crnu, he thought he could see her calling to him.

    The heaviness left him as he stepped into the water. . .

    Poem

    Marama Crnu

    Authors: Grozdana Šulenta, Marina Poša

    Bez tebe nema života više,

    suze padaju kao kiše.

    Sunce moje milo, prestaje mi radit bilo.

    TI si meni, marama crnu dala,

    moja slatka mala.

    Odlazim . . .

    vratit se neću, jer gubim moju ljubav najveću.

    Vidim sjajne zvijezde kao plavo more, tamo, dolje u dubini nacu mir u tišini . . .

    ti si meni marama crnu dala moja slatka mala.

  • The Threshold – Daring to go over the line

    The Threshold

    She crosses the threshold and goes beyond.

    her vision changed.

    She saw reality,

    things as they were,

    she saw how she’d been stifled,

    let things occur,

    not considering self,

    told she was on the shelf.

    Conforming to their needs,

    ignoring her own pleas.

    She sees it now, so clearly,

    her eyes no longer bleary.

    Is it too late?

    That’s what they want her to believe,

    their truth, the limits, the box, that previously,

    she had contorted herself to fit.

    Now, standing tall, shaking her silver head,

    “What was I thinking?” She said.

    And in the blink of an eye, she disappeared…

    Some say they’ve seen her on the riviera,

    others in films or on social media.

    She’s now an urban legend,

    living her life.

    I thought I saw her the other day, talking on the phone,

    I recognised that silver head and tone,

    but before I knew it, she was gone…

    Living her best life and singing her song.

    This poem forms part of my ongoing creative research project I am Maria!, exploring memory, voice, and becoming through poetic practice. More of my expressive works are available to view here.

  • Second Life – Swimming against the current

    @just.iammaria

    She/her

    There are moments in our lives when the past resurfaces with an unexpected force, not to break us, but to remind us of the weight that we have been carrying for far too long. Second Life is a reflection on those echoes: the hidden blame, the quiet shame, and the relentless replaying of stories we once believed defined us.

    This poem is an honest transparent look at what it means to swim against the current and to find the courage to step into a new sense of self, a second life, shaped by healing rather than hurt and self blame.

    Second Life

    I told myself many times,

    It didn’t matter,

    all the chatter,

    what was said,

    and what I imagined in my head.

    I tried to put it all to bed and yet,

    everything re-emerged,

    and I tried again,

    but there it was, out. . .

    There was never any doubt,

    I always blamed myself,

    and the blame,

    became a weight,

    I couldn’t move,

    I couldn’t speak,

    I was weak,

    over time,

    replayed the scenes,

    in my mind.

    The trap was lain,

    I was sentenced, over years,

    I took the blame and hid the shame,

    what wasn’t my fault, there in the vault,

    feelings resurface at times,

    and all I can do is cope,

    live in hope,

    that I can turn and let that past burn. . .

    I’m swimming against the current

    Here comes my second life . . .