At Dawning 21

8/8/2019 At Dawning 21

1/41

Embrace

Dedicated to Nancy M. Popa

Biscuits on the table.

Tender hands on you,

Bright eyes on me:

Show me the way to your soul.

Written on September 2001, in Panama City, Panama

The Point

Northside of the World

Southside of the Sky

East End of Eden,

West End of Man.

Written on September 14, 2001, in Panama City, Panama

1


2/41

The Springtime of your Life :

Inspired byPrintemps qui Commence (*) of Saint-Sens

Dedicated to M.

From below the Earth

Deep underground

A meaningless seed

Is lullabied by the warmth

Of your motherly womb

Called Earth

While an unstoppable

And irresistible impulse

Comes from within the seed

To go forth, up,

Releasing its priceless

Gift for all to see

And making a lovely union

A romance beyond description

With the elements around

Makes the seed grow

Breaking the cold

Expanding life:

Facing the Sun!

Green stem, bright leaves

Morning dew dances

2


3/41

On this Fairys fair

Known as

The Springtime of your Life.

Written on September, 2001, in Panama City, Panama

(*) The Beginning of the Spring, an Aria from the Opera Samson and Delilah

3


4/41

In the Eyes of a Friend

Inspired by Lulu

In your faintless eyes

Its never too late

For a comeback

Or for starting

Again

Again and again

You comebackAnd restart your life.


I see myself

A part of me

Deep inside

that I deny

Yet I see myself In those eyes

I hear myself

In your voice

So crystal-clear

Your laughter

So transparent

So whole, so deep

Yet I see you again After all these years

Of rise and fall Through it all

4


5/41

And you look

at me

Hope comes from above

Hope to bring myself

Comfort from within

To open up my window

Let the light shine out.

In your wholeheartness

Your faintheartlessnessYour tenderness

And your strength

To be free

My inner well slows life

I open my source to calm

My inner drought

My vital thirst.


Id love to lose myself

And find myself

Within you

Now I understand

Its never too late

To start

Again

My dearest friend.

Written on January 31st, 2003, in Panama City, Panama

5


6/41

Internatural

I. CORNERED SOUL

In the vertices of time, my feelings nest,

in the apices of space, my mind rests

eager for the cobweb-breaking light: YOU(*)

II. RELEASED SOUL

The sun melts the cobwebsand the caterpillar flies

the cocoon is empty now.

III. PRODIGAL SON

I already looked my soul in the eye

and kissed goodbye evil in her lips:

Now I am coming back home.(**)

IV. GAS IN GLASS

Your natural gas

fills my radical glass

reaching our destination.

6


7/41

V. RAINY DAY

Under an overled sky

animals wonder and wander,

as purification becomes flood.

VI. SURF DREAMS

Easy as a bliss

the sea-surf caress

in my endless dreams...

VII. AIR AND FIRE

The spell of lightning

the smell of night breeze

fragrant and colourful airwaves.

VIII. NATURAL EMBRACE

The mist of my feelings

embraces your mindful soil

bringing forth the flowers of our love.

IX. DREAM HOUSE

Forest House,

Water Dreams:

Mind your House, Love your Dreams.

7


8/41

Written in the years 2003 and 2004. Additions on the year 2008, in Panama City, Panama

(*) Inspired by Pjaros de Barro (Birds of Mud) of Manolo Garca

(**) Inspired by Regreso a Casa (Back Home) of Moenia

8


9/41

Possibilities

Im fishing memories

lying in the bottom

of the ocean of my life

Cant catch the bird

of my past days

then it comes to me

in a betraying flight

to tear off my eyes,covering me with shadow.

However, I can collect

some dirty pages

of my life

and burn them down,

Yet I am able to bathe

in your river,

where my memories

lose use for a while

May be it isnt too late

to sow new seeds

in your fertile fields

to feed my mortal hopes

with your immortal faith.

Written on February 20, 2004, in Panama City, Panama

9


10/41

The Streams of Oblivion

With special thanks to Ida Puzone

The wastes of remorse

flow now

in the streams of oblivion,

while a dark sky

anticipates

a hard rain to be poured

washing away all the hardships.

Written on March, 2004, in Panama City, Panama

10


11/41

Jazz Variations on a Natural Theme

Dedicated to Nancy M. Popa and Maru Caseiro

I. Van Dam

Broken levees, dead dams,

dry, wasted reserves,

energy under threat of extinction.

II. Spring

Heavenly chant, like a spring

springing water from the mountain

the lullaby for my foreign heart

to drink and relieve its thirst.

III. Avis

Dance of fabrics, rainbow`s song

shining feathers on the horizon

whistling birds, masters

of the auditive caress.

Written on May 8, 2004, in Panama City, Panama

11


12/41

Aeolus Strummer

Inspired by O du mein holder AbendsternofRichard Wagner

I caress

the softness of dusk

gazing into my eyes;

I lean my yearnings

against cotton clouds

undone By the Northern Wind.

Located southside of the scorn,only its consequence

comes to me

such a ghostly gust,

in my daily World,

a threatening eclipse.

Strumming strings of wind

I discover your voice

And in it, a thousand clues,

I learn through your Air Caresses

to give in to the ambush

of the Mermaid`s Song.

Originally written in Spanish on December, 13, 2004, in Panama City, Panama

Translated into English on the year 2005. Reviewed on July 18, 2009, in Panama City,

Panama

12


13/41

Strips:

A discreet strip of sky

appears clear and celestial

before my eyes,

in the middle of black clouds

chaotically covering

my mediterranean horizon;

a fine strip of sea

serene and blue,

seeps throughyour mournful procession,

threatening your cross

and encouraging my march.

Written originally in Spanish on February the 2nd, 2005, in Santiago de Veraguas, Panama

Translated into English on February 24, 2005, in Panama City, Panama

13


14/41

F inal Journey

A journey

lean of deceit,

gross of reality,

whereon

my stoich maneuvers

pretend to

keep me safe,

reach my yearned shore

never to return...

Written originally in Spanish on March 9 and 15, 2005, in Panama City, Panama

Translated into English on June 2005, in Panama City, Panama

Craterous Hibernation

The ashes of my hopes,

they fall

upon the arid crater of your

oblivion;

below

a seed throbs and awaits

a rather improbable rain...

Written originally in Spanish on July 17, 2005, in Panama City, PanamaTranslated into English on August 4, 2005, in Panama City, Panama

14


15/41

No Escape from Myself

Dedicated to Carlos Wynter

I mask my bones,

however I search like a hound

my dark corners

only to limit

that part of me

that I want to escape from.

You are there,blinding temptation,

I re-make the escape

being reborn in my torment,

my reality is inside.

Written on August 2005, in Panama City, Panama

15


16/41

Fat dogs, thin dogs:

Poverty bags,

liberty rags,

wealth compromised

stealth and lies shed.

Subhuman microcosmos

of a rebel without cause,

big mind up in space,thin body out in the streets.

An inner yell at life,

a claim against deaf ears.

In the cyber era

no one speaks your language.

The Master of Babel

tangles the versions,

strangles the visions

of simple bureaucrats.

Tied up in ties,

frozen over in his Bureau,

thin mind in the closet,

fat body at the City Club.

16


17/41

Eternal contradiction,

mixed priorities, twisted budgets

Bodies for lease, Minds for Sale

The rebels shall starve.

Written in Augut and September 2005, in Panama City, Panama

17


18/41

Racial Paradigm:

Inspired by Jos Vasconcelos

The One-Race Paradigm

is already broken,

inside the melting pot

the Cosmic Race

has been bred.

The Mestizo Paradigm

comes forth,brand new human beings

sharing a Cosmic Dance

like newly-weds:

Are we prepared

to receive such a New Man

inside ourselves?

It is already You:

Euro, Mexican,

Yankee, West Indian,

Polinesian, Arab,

Afro...? and so on...

IT IS YOU.

Written in August and September 2005, in Panama City, Panama

18


19/41

Weed

In my nomadism,

sometimes hedonist

and often stoical,

weed took over

my chest.

In the aridity of my soul

weed turned into

dry, sharp leavesstabbing my heart,

wounded, I refused to succumb.

Your eyes, crystals

and your heart, the sun

have consumed my weed

my chest is burning, the fire

forges something new within:

A precious stone shines right

where there once was

a bleeding and undone muscle,

out of infinite pain

there comes forth a strange redemption.

Written simultaneously in Spanish and English on October 19, 2005, in Panama City,

Panama

19


20/41


21/41

Crime Scene

The fingerprints

of a hybrid

popular conscience

hanging in the void

stained

by the bleeding

of a lost identity

The sharpened remainsof the generational

rupture

clip

Society`s hand...

Written simultaneously in Spanish and English on November 29, 2005, in Panama City,

Panama

21


22/41


23/41

Telluric

Dedicated to Gorka Lasa

I.

The Social Pangea

creaks, gives away, wrecks itself,

sinking into the waters

of a particular massive autism.

II.

The delicate plates of tolerance

were strangely fitted

causing tremors of

centrifugal telluric suspicion.

III.

The last remains

of the Oceanic Garrett`s "Terra Firma"(*)

lie scattered between autistic waters,

separated by intolerant earthly fittings.

IV.

Insular realities

of individual existence

peeping up such pale memories

23


24/41

of Mythical Continents

not even the Social Pangea.

V.

Inside the core, in the axis

a revolution is boiled over low heat,

the so-feared cataclysm will only be the refitting

of a new centripetal order.

Written originally in Spanish on June the 1st, 2006, in Panama City, Panama

Translated into English on June the 1

st

and the 9

th

, 2006, in Panama City, Panama

(*) Dreamworld by Midnight Oil

24


25/41

Met

Dedicated to Eyra Harbar

The flight of your imaginary bird

crosses my actual skies,

the crossbow of your imaginative eyes

drove its luxury arrow into my frugal heart.

Written simultaneously in English and Spanish on June the 1st, 2006, in Panama City,

Panama

Throb

Slow hands

on the willing heart;

under a scarlet sky

the ground opens wide...

Written simultaneously in English and Spanish on June 5 and 11, 2006, in Panama City,

Panama

25


26/41

The Crash(*) Factor:

1971

I GREW UP IN A SMALL TOWN.

The main feature of such life was the consideration towards your neighbour.

For instance, I remember that everybody knew who my parents were. Going astray as a

child was not a problem. In all cases a "bona fide" adult would take you back home.

1989

When I graduated from High School, the towns population had amazingly doubled. In less

than 20 years we could see the first signs of FEAR, VIOLENCE and CRIME; however, the

town was still manageable.

2006

Now I live in a 2 Million Plus City, more than 150 miles from my hometown, still in the

same good growing country.

As the Cities (and countries) grow and prosper, we see how they "BABELIZE", people no

longer know each other"the way it should be", they dont care either ... they just dont want

to know their neighbour.

Trust has been lost gradually, common effort vanishes, the community no longer works

together, they leave it all to the governments care. An increasing fear takes on when you

26


27/41

see more and more people who dont look like your Parents, dont speak with your accent,

dont eat what you do, dont dance your dances:

- HORROR IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

You feel invaded by hordes of opportunist aliens who come to steal like locusts the fruit of

your Parents work and Ideals.

THE FUTURE

Survival of prosperous, multi-ethnical urban centers (and countries) absolutely depends on

MUTUAL:

- RESPECT

- UNDERSTANDING and

- INTEGRATION

Is it impossible? I still dont know, Im figuring it out...

Written on July 24, 2006 , in Panama City, Panama

(*) Crash, movie from 2004

27


28/41

Exhausted Horizon

(Overwhelmed skyline)

Dedicated to my friends Eyra Harbar, Jairo Llaurad and Jos Luis Rodrguez-PittSpecial acknowledgements to Heghedus Camelia

Overwhelmed skyline

exhausted horizon

a material saturation

bred among empty souls.

Concrete scrapes blue skies

whilst

cement steps tough on the soil.

Virtual delusion

gives away towards

visual pollution.

Some rare sort of senseless rush

deceives inconstant souls,

the automatic satisfaction

becomes a collective slayer.

Written on July 24 and October 23, 2006, in Panama City, Panama

28


29/41

The Invisible Menace

Dedicated to Yo Soy Cliff and Marta L. Snchez

Prejudice outwitted a guard

full of self-satisfaction

under a disguised form of fear,

a distorted sense of menace,

a threatening Ghost of Hate,

then an Amnesia is justified

erasing that certainty whichit was there at the outset

and that aHoudiniesque Calendar

has altered into Absolute Doubt

under the sightless wakefulness

of the outwitted guards.

Written on November 6, 12, 13 and 16, 2006, in San Francisco de la Montaa, Veraguas,

Panama and Panama City, Panama

29


30/41

Incidental Music

"Everything is made in silence. Like

the light inside the eye." Jaime Sabines

Dedicated to Jos Luis Rodrguez-Pitt and Mario Garca Hudson

This memory

incidental music

livening upordinary days.

that notion

borrowed chorus

unnamed glory

from the oblivion of ages.

A life is woven

out of rap and sampling

such a remnants spread

But you, incidental music,

have given sense

to such a life.

You are the

Clock-of-notice

Of

30


31/41

A death

to the effect, to the evasion

A return to the uterus

find the root

and your tonal key.

Written on November 2006 and January 2007, in Panama City, Panama

Reviewed on July 18, 2009, in Panama City, Panama

31


32/41

Caribbean:

A Brief and Subjective Salutation

"Ruge la mar embravecida

rompe la ola desde el horizonte ...

brilla el verde azul del Mar Caribe."

TIBURN - RUBN BLADES (*)

My pen is lifted and salutes the Great Caribbean, That one, as once J.J. ARMAS

MARCELO said, extended from the Mississippi Delta to the Amazon Delta, plenty of thereflection of the sun in sands of extreme whiteness, fresh breeze sometimes wild, itchy

heat, plains, sugar cane fields and every now and then a shy and introverted mountain

range.

There, where the "beautiful faces of my black people"drink rum, chop sugar cane, play the

bongos, shake their hips. A melting pot of races, pre-colombines, europeans, africans,

asians and every existing race in-between.

Lands between waters, islands, peninsul and interinsul, bathed by carnivals, splashed by

blood and sweat, permeated by happiness and scream, between hunger and the non-

accomplished dream, I recall tropical dreams from Panama, dreams of fast talk, as I say

words full of oxygen and "riddim"(**).

Written on January, 2007, in Panama City, Panama

(*) Translation

"The stormy sea roars

the wave breaks on the horizon

32


33/41

the blue green of the Caribbean shines."

SHARK - RUBN BLADES

(**) Jamaican for "Rhythm" (cadenza).

Special Acknowledgements to Sonia Marcus Gaia

33


34/41

T error

Dedicated to Sofia Santim and Javier RayaIn memory of all the victims of the gunmen worldwide

The external terror is barely the reflection of the internal terror.JEREMY, like a macabre "a

posteriori"prophet, echoes the signals sent by EDDIE VEDDER, words that tremble in

my guts.

The terror in the lost look of the gunman, who pulls the trigger perhaps looking "to besomebody", victim or victimizer, of Fear, Prejudice, Intolerance, a Society much too

Consumist-Consumed by the Urge to SELF-SATISFY on Things, whilst the Empty Soul

with a Nil Inner life:

- Ignored

- Forgotten

- Swindled.

An inconcluded message sent by the "Jeremist" messenger in turn, whilst Prejudice hunts

for Ghosts of Terror outside; the terror inside goes out to hunt for prejudice.

Originally written in verse in Spanish on April 18 and May 5, 2007, in Panama City,

Panama

Translated into prose in English on the month of May, 2007, in Panama City, Panama

34


35/41

Nirmanakaya

Seven days in hell

seven years in purgatory

an eternal - and quittable -

Nirvana

for Endless Love

- Fire embraces me

scorches me

Originally written in Spanish on June 7, 2007, in Panama City, Panama

Translated into English on the month of June, 2007, in Panama City, Panama

35


36/41

Fearsome

Dedicated to Salvador Medina-Barahona

A lifespan wasted in fear.

A quest for revelation,

Only dim lights outside

In the pilgrims night.

Romancing the Stone

Even when my dreams

Seem to sink like paper boats.

Written on November 2007 and April 2008, in Panama City, Panama


36


37/41


38/41


39/41

Pocket Gods

(Vs.- Absolute Gods)

Im Soul and Sailor

of allegory and voyage

a compass of categories

marks direction and change.

I come from absolute gods

of wrath and orthodoxy,

masters of narrow roadsonly one direction and future.

I see a horizon a la carte

with pocket divinities

a suitable salvation

pay the toll and way so clear.

Invisible but tangible

a simple way shows

no tolls, free way for all.

- (Magnetic North`s

marked by the heart

beyond dependence

and illusion) -

Written in Panama City, on February 2, 2008, in Panama City, Panamas

39


40/41

Twilight of Race

Dedicated to Gorka Lasa

Your dreams swim

into heavy water

Acid rain

Fertilizes your stock.

I summon for

The FireAnd its Ritual

Cutting Time Free

From its kidnapping.

Thus a day ends

And the germ

OfContinuum

Peeps out

Originally written in Spanish on May 19 and June 6, 2008, in Panama City, Panama

Translated into English on June 17, 2008, in Panama City, Panama


40


41/41

DNA

Dedicated to Roxana Arra

Egyptian smoke

Of an Atlantis fire

Ashes of mine:

Mayan embers

Still burning.

Written simultaneously in English and Spanish on October 29, 2008, in Panama City,Panama

Documents

At Dawning 21