(no subject)

[juneflame.livejournal.com]

This House I Cannot Leave

My friend describes the burglar:
how he touched her clothes, passed through rooms
leaving himself there,
staining the space
between walls, a thing she can see.

She doesn't care what he took, only
that he has driven her out, she can't
stay in this house
she loved, scraped the colors of four families
from the walls and painted with her own,
and planted things.
She is leaving fruit trees behind.

She will sell, get out, maybe
another neighborhood.
People say
Get over it. The market isn't good. They advise
that she think about cash to mortgage
and the fruit trees

but the trees have stopped growing for her.

I offer no advice.
I tell her I know, she will leave. I am thinking
of the man who broke and entered

me.

Of the years it took to be home again
in this house I cannot leave.

~Barbara Kingsolver~

watched 'before night falls' yesterday...

[juneflame.livejournal.com]

fragment of a prose poem, quoted in the movie 'before night falls'

The Parade Ends

Walking along streets that collapse from crumbling sewers
Past buildings you jump to avoid... in case they fall on you
Past grim faces that size you up and sentence you
Past closed shops, cinemas, closed parks, closed cafes,
Some of them showing dusty signs (justifications):
"CLOSED FOR RENOVATION"
"CLOSED FOR REPAIRS"
What repairs? When will these renovations be finished?
When at least will they begin?
Closed... closed... closed... everything closed
I arrive, open countless padlocks and run up the temporary stairs
There she is, waiting for me
I pull off the typewriter cover, and stare at her dusty, cold shape
I clean off the dust and caress her
With my hand, I brush clean her back, her base and her sides
I sit down in front of her, desperate and happy
I run my fingers over her keyboard and suddenly it all starts up
With a tinkling sound the music begins, then speeds up more and more
Walls, trees, streets, cathedrals, faces and beaches...
Cells, mini-cells, huge cells
Starry nights, bare feet, pines clouds
Hundreds, thousands, a million parrots, stools, a climbing plant
The walls recede, the roof vanishes, and you float quite naturally
You float uprooted, dragged off, lifted high
You are transported, immortalized, saved, honored
Thanks to that subtle, continuous rhythm..
That music, that incessant tap-tap

~Reinaldo Arenas~