by Adrian Arias
Translated from the Spanish by Nina Serrano
I would like to be quiet but instead
I look in the mirror and discover that I'm shouting into the void
my mind has occupied my body and does not tell it a thing …
This life is a little complicated for telling the world
that it does not matter who was the first to throw the stone
that finally broke the silence of the inverted pyramids
there always needs to be someone to blame so (play)
do not hide in the shadows that's where I look first ...
I want chocolate ice cream smokes alcohol and an overdose of red meat...
(pause) I think there are too many toxins involved in a single verse
How about a good breath of fresh air?
How about a hug from someone you do not know? ...
Do not kid yourself, do not keep on kidding yourself
You know that you are the same as all those
who look in the mirror and keep quiet in their spider webs
in their future grieving in their remote controlled caves (fast-forward)
without lifting a finger, without refreshing their dry mouths so close to the water ...
And the world opens like a flower
it peels like an orange, it breaks like an egg ...
Oh my dear mind, what I can tell you (stop)
dreams are there for you to cherish
and in case you don’t remember people are occupying the plazas
the streets the beaches the seas the mountains
and there are smoke signals that begin to tell the story
just be careful not to get burnt
light a candle from time to time
you do not have to believe in anything (rewind)
save only a scream and stop fearing your own silence ...
Now it seems that my body has Occupy my mind
and I take it for a walk in the world (frame by frame)
to re-learn that there are thousands of doubts to share
in the warmth of a tent
in the embrace of a poem.
Adrian Arias is a Peruvian poet, visual artist and cultural aRtivist living since 2000 in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has 13 books and booklets published in Peru and the US.
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