Brenda Cárdenas was invited by Governor Evers to be the Invocation Speaker at Wisconsin's 46th Annual "Tribute and Ceremony" honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr at the State Capitol Rotunda in Madison on January 19, 2026. She delivered a new poem on the theme "The Power of Unity."

To view a PBS Wisconsin video recording of the entire event, follow this link. Brenda Cárdenas is introduced and reads her poem 18:16 minutes into the program.

For a recording of the reading of the poem. Brenda reads her poem (audio)

Here is the poem:

What Do You Say?
        by Brenda Cárdenas

Like protons and neutrons bind into atoms
and they into molecules, so we are bound
to one another. Each word you utter will change
your neighbor’s day, maybe their destiny.
Each snowfall she shovels or Maple he plants
will ensure you walk, breathe, for the air you exhale
is the air I inhale. Like birds flying in a V,
we are each other’s compass. Who among us
has raised our wondrous children, earned our
diplomas, authored our books, built our businesses,
engineered our bridges and buildings, or struck
down an unjust law alone?

If you alone have made yourself, what do you say
to the man in overalls who hauled your garbage
away; the teacher whose hand hovered above yours
helping you form each of the alphabet’s letters;
the mechanic who silenced your car’s grumble
so you could drive to the date who one day,
you’d wed? What of the nurse who reduced
your fever with a cool cloth? Cómo le agradeces
y a los farmworkers who harvested la lechuga
en su ensalada, who struck and starved, quienes
marcharon por mil millas, demanding a living wage?

What do you tell the women hunched over
sweatshop machines sewing the suit you wore
to the job interview that landed you here?
The hunger strikers force-fed in prison so half
of us could vote? Each who abandoned Montgomery’s
buses and walked for 381 days? What do you say
to the one for whom this day is named, he who knew
we are woven into a single garment of destiny? We have yet
to learn from dolphins who protect whales giving birth,
from elephants who search in teams, rumbling
and trumpeting to retrieve their kidnapped calves.

So come, circle round our sacred drum; it is
but our own hearts beating. Feel the collective
effervescence of connection. Link arms against
my oppressors, for they are also yours. Help them
see anew; then welcome them home. Join our mosaic,
each translucent hue fused to another. Singers
in a choir, my note depends on yours, yours on mine.