Jael Uribe. Born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Graduated in Publicity Arts, she has a Master in Editorial and Graphic Design and a Diplomat in Public Relations and Corporative Communication. She is a writer, designer, storyteller, poet and painter. She is CEO of the Mujeres Poetas Internacional (Women Poets International Movement) and the initiator of the Grito de Mujer (Woman Scream International Festival), an annual global celebration of events that honors women and advocates against women abuse. She has received the “Freedom of Expression Award” in Norway, for her cultural involvement defending women and human’s rights through her projects. Received the International Poetry Award Vicente Rodríguez-Nietzsche by the Porto Rico International Poetry Festival. She has been feature in Forbes Magazine, Fierce by Mitu, among other publications. Her poetry and articles have been translated into several languages.
Awards and recognition
In 2018, She was nominated as the International Beat Poetry Laureate 2018-2019, in Connecticut USA. She was featured at the Forbes Margazine (Dic. 2018) as one of the “Most Creative People from Latin America”. In 2017 she was rewarded with the “Freedom of Expression Award 2016” in Oslo, Norway by the Norwegian Author’s Union, the same year, she also won the International Poetry Award Vicente Rodríguez-Nietzsche celebrated by the Porto Rico International Poetry Festival. In 2015 she was nominated Women Of The Year by a Dominican Major Newspaper Diario Libre, for her cultural work in 2014. In 2013 she received the award for her life essay in the Competition Mujeres: Voces, Imágenes y Testimonios de Voces Nuestras, in Costa Rica. In 2012 she received a plaque from the Direction of the XV International Book Fair of Santo Domingo. In 2012, she got recognition for the cultural management of Women Poets International by Ediciones Limaclara, Argentina, 2012. In 2012 she wins a mention at the Diablos Azules poetry competition in Trujillo, Peru. In 2011 she won another mention in the Caños Dorados International Poetry competition in Córdoba, Spain. In 2012 she received a mention in the Nano Expressiones Project in Venezuela, 2010. In 2010, she received a first prize for a children story at the Children’s Literature Contest ELIEC in Argentina, 2010.
Books and publications
She is the author of the poetry book “De la Muerte al Fénix” (From death to phoenix), that compiles her poetry up to the year 2014 published by the Ministry of Culture in DR and the Direction of the Santo Domingo Book Fair in December 2016. In 2018, a selection of her poetry was compiled and translated to English by the International Beat Poetry Festival of Connecticut. She was the editor of many women anthologies among them: Muñecas (Against children abuse), Faros de Esperanza (Honoring women who lost their daughters due to feminicides, Woman Scream, International Anthology of Poetic Female Voices, Grito de Mujer International Women Anthology in Spanish, among others.
Her project page is www.womanscreamfestival.com
Her blog is http://jaeluribe.blogspot.com
9 pills against death
By Jael Uribe
Dominican Republic
At the roar of a fist
air kisses the ground and freezes.
Fear the face in shadows,
the roses in iris
dead ahead their time.
Fear
the swirl stopped in your smile
where sky trembles
and mutes in the back of your hands.
Fear
because a night bird
has landed on your throat,
also hatred and tragedy.
Fear
because seconds have stopped in your eyes,
pain has melted time on your eyelashes
and you cry a tear of desolate forgetfulness.
Now it’s time to sew hunger
to wash out your instincts
to lay off the absurd name hidden in your suitcase
that has never been useful.
Fear:
-The loss of words.
-The kisses asleep on the corner of your lips
biting their amazement.
-The rush of a face without kisses.
-The loss of a glance that leaves you speechless.
Fear
because silence
is made out of “nothing”,
out of empty glasses
raised in a duel,
out of crumbs offered by a body’s companion
in infinite isolation.
Fear yourself,
because not loving you is a screamed death sentence.
Because every word is a sustained goodbye
a batch of glances turning off darkness
when all you need to do
is open your eyes.
(Spanish version)
9 píldoras contra la muerte
Al rugido del puño
el aire besa el suelo y lo congela.
Teme al rostro en la sombra,
a las rosas en el iris muertas a destiempo.
Teme al remolino detenido en tu sonrisa
donde el cielo tiembla
y calla en el envés de tus manos.
Teme.
Porque el pájaro en la noche
se ha posado en tu garganta,
también el odio y la tragedia.
Teme.
Porque se han detenido los segundos en tus ojos,
el dolor derrite el tiempo en tus pestañas
y lloras una lágrima de olvido, inconsolable.
Ahora es tiempo de coser el hambre
de lavar el instinto,
de sacar de la maleta el apellido absurdo
que jamás te ha servido de nada.
Teme:
-A las palabras perdidas.
-A los besos dormidos en el esquicio de tus labios
que muerden su asombro.
-Al rubor de un rostro sin besos.
-A la mirada perdida, sin habla.
Teme.
Porque de “nada”
está hecho el silencio
de las copas vacías
levantadas en duelo,
de las migajas que brinda la infinita ausencia
en compañía del cuerpo.
Témete,
porque no amarte es un grito de muerte.
Porque toda palabra es un adiós sostenido
un manojo de miradas apagando tinieblas
donde sólo es necesario abrir los ojos.
