Textos de volada (usando una o dos palabras escogidas al azar, 2002)

Pava

La pava saltaba por donde el cerdo comía, y sentía que el mosco le hablaba.
Nadie entendía y sin embargo a nadie importaba

Tintero – Azul

Tintero azul tu comes, tintero azul te doy,
tu en mi pintas tu raya,
yo en ti pinto mi amor.

Reconciliation tea - Té de reconciliación

Dissolve all rancour on a fresh giggle
Tease an erogenous zone avoiding overheating
Pour gentle kisses to taste and wait for a wink
Drink immediately

Disuelva el rencor en una sonrisa fresca
Corteje una zona erógena evitando el bochorno
Vierta arrumacos al gusto y espere un guiño
Beban inmediatamente

A bed with wheels

Driving your bed is the ultimate freedom.

Your playground is as big as the map you got. And no matter how lost you are, you are always at home!

Campervaning also combines a few of my favorite things; driving on the open roads, exploring new places and being outdoors.

Its name is Don Tootalot. Yes, our van has a name (and I could not care less about what you think of it or the fact that it has a name!). But be assured, if you were to jump on it, you will know there is a good reason for it!

Recréate en mí - Recreate yourself in me

Aparea tus miedos con mis pavores
Apapacha tu lado flaco con mis carencias
Dibuja tus vacíos con mis hipocresías
Teje una manta de mentiras con mis múltiples defectos
Y si aun así deseas permanecer, yo te daré todo mi odio, gratis

Mate your fears with my terrors
Cuddle your fragility with my deficiencies
Illustrate your emptiness with my hypocrisies
Knit a blanket of lies with my multiple defects
And, if you still want to be here, I’ll give you all my hate, free

Tantrum kebab - Kebab de berrinche

Infuse an unreasonable whim with despair
Add false anger and a twist of an arm
Wrap it in selfishness and eat in public

Mezcle un deseo irreverente con impaciencia
Agregue falsa muina y una manita de puerco
Envuelva en egoísmo y coma en público

La justicia sigue dormida

¿QUÉ TAL DURMIÓ? gritó Germán MDCCCXCII (1892) veces deseando perturbar el sueño irreverente de los ladrones.

Extrañaré su humor artero y la intima ventana que cotidianamente compartía.

Sus frescas letras permitían colarme a mi México cotidiano, brujo y distante.

Dehesa deja un vacío pero su llamado a la justicia sigue vigente. Carajo.

Justice is still sleeping

HOW DID YOU SLEEP? Screamed German MDCCCXCII (1892) times wishing to disturb the thieves’ irreverent siesta.

I’ll miss his mordant humor and the intimate window he shared.

His fresh words allowed me to enter my contemporary, enchanted and distant Mexico.

Dehesa left a void but his call for justice is still here. Carajo.

NOTE: Mexican writer German Dehesa, winner of the 2008 Don Quixote Prize awarded by the government of Castilla-La Mancha, died of cancer at his home in Mexico City, days after making the illness public in his newspaper column, the daily Reforma, to which he was a contributor. He was 66. More info on this blog

Mermelada de celos - Jealousy jam

Pase por agua un reclamo, remójelo en una falsa caricia
Rebane dos miedos y llórelos sin pena
Machaque un pancho reciente hasta reducir la posesión
Embarre con muina

Soak a claim in a false caress
Cut two fears and cry them with no shame
Chop a recent tantrum until you reduce the possession
Spread with fury

A community that embraces its public spaces has more freedom.

At the heart of my gusto for Australia lie its parks. They are vast and enjoying them is simple and free.

A rhombus blanket, a book and a friend to toss a Frisbee is all you need. Wait, second thoughts, forget the paraphernalia. Just feel and observe.

But parks are more than trees and grass; they are a mirror reflecting the health of the community.

Nonetheless, fear can easily poison public spaces and transform a jolly picnic into panic. Thus they require our respect and collective care.

Living with my name

We all must learn how to live with our names. But in my case it determines the nature of any and all dialogues I start with English speaking humans.

If I could capture the expressions of each person that hears my name for the first time, I would probably find the universal facial meaning of bewilderment.

The saga begins when my interlocutor tries to chew my name. The distortions are comical at best, but most of the time utterly absurd.

Sorry, excuse me and/or say again are the most common phrases that bounce back to me after I say my name.

So my personal Chinese whispers game involves only two people and 4 steps:

Step one: I say my name - Jorge
Step two: I say my name again (s-l-o-w-l-y this time)
Step three: I repeat step two
Step four: I spell my name Jeei-Ouu-Arr-Gee-Eee.

Aah, HORHAY! They respond, as a smile shyly replaces confusion.

At this stage I could choose to accept defeat with an honorable grin and move on, or go to step two again and again and again...

However, if the mood is appropriate and advanced version of the game can be played. The ultimate identity catharsis involves using my full name (Jorge Luis). Results are fascinating and surprisingly it generally requires only two steps.

Step one: I say my full name (Jorge Luis)
Step two: I repeat step one (s-l-o-w-l-y)

HERCULES! Bounces back, their eyes wide open trying to hide their laughter for such a misfortune!

Do not get me wrong, I'm not complaining. In fact, my name has given me the gracious chance to be four different personas:

For social interactions and work, I normally play Jorge (and settle for Horhay).
For people I want to become friends I gamble with Jorge Luis.
And when I could not care less, I simply become Diego (but never, never ever George!).

Sopa pa olvidar - Disregard soup

Vierte una tasa de mis pesadillas bien sudadas
Hiérvelas apunto de pavor
Agita levemente mis miedos y mézclalos con celos a punto de violencia
Con el primer hervor chilla
Reduce mi autoestima hasta lograr una peste sólida
Remoja en el sofrito tres lamentos frescos, agrégale mis traiciones y pónle angustia al gusto
Bébeme tibio y olvídate de mí

Pour a cup of my nightmares in sweat

Boil them to terror

Softly shake my fears and mix them with jealousy before it burst into violence
Cry when simmer

Reduce my self-esteem into a solid pest

Soak the sauté in three fresh laments, add my betrayals and put anguish to taste

Drink me warm and forget about me

Voting for the first time in Australia - Or where do they serve the best sausage sizzle?

For the fist time I voted in an election I trust.

Yet, still armed with my political paranoia, a natural garment of the Mexican pseudo-democratic tradition, I saw with wary eyes the fact that political propaganda could be handed at the polling site on the day of the election.

My second surprise came when I was not even asked to present any identification before being handed out a voting ballot. My word was sufficient proof of my identity and pencils were used to mark the voting sheets.

The third wave of bewilderment came when I realized the abanico of political options in Australia. There is a political party glorifying people who deny reality ("The Climate Sceptics"); another vindicating the rights of people to be cruel for fun ("The Shooters Party" they actually have representation in Parliament!), and finally another one with a great name (and better policies), the "Sex Party" (that indeed obtained more than 9,000 votes).

However, one of the most important prerogatives of the voting day was not about politics, but about finding out in which polling station the best sausage sizzles were served! (Eating one of these ozy hot dogs on election days is a national tradition).

So as it turns out, Australia has a divided Parliament. My trust (in peoples' judgement) has suffered a small dent as I refuse to accept so many people actually voted for a party whose leader said "climate change is crap". Thus we might have to go to the poles again, and my only paranoia will be to find an empty sausage sizzle stand. Not too bad after all hey.

Textos de volada (usando dos palabras escogidas al azar, 2002)

Papel – Mascara

Papel de mascara te sabes, tu papel es siempre igual,
no sabes si tu papel es ser mascara
o mascara eres y en la pared colgada estás.

Inquietante – Presencia

Inquietante el tiempo estaba,
en el aire tu presencia se respiraba.
De tu vientre un halo blanco salía y en el se leía:
pienso, paro y punto final.

Sapo – Avispa

Sapo te sientes, por el camino vas,
tu cola de avispa sacas al bailar, por ello nadie te toca al cachondear.

Lago Managua. Nicaragua. Marzo 2003

Frente al Lago Managua (o lago Xolotlán)

Sólidas aguas
el viento terco
las despeina ignorando su muerte.

Al fondo un cuerpo de agua con sabor a polvo y olor a caño.
Frente a él, Ruben Dario convertido en teatro
y un Bolivar cabalga en una feria desolada.
Los autos chillan junto a una frase de Sandino que nos recuerda que en esta tierra, la pobreza emana.



Nota: Por más de medio siglo el lago Managua (o Xolotlán) ha sido víctima del drenaje doméstico y residuos tóxicos.