NaPoWriMo Entry: April 4 and 5

April 4, 2018

unsure of how he feels about

snow or fish or ex porn stars,

julio tips the sticky, thick glass

bottle and summons a mouthful

of SoCo, swallowing defiantly

as he scans his audience:

three kids, maybe sophomores

in high school, just seconds before

hovered hesitantly at the table edge,

daring one another. julio now stands,

supporting the corner. the room is

sound, pounding, but not musically.

he is rice, frying with fish caught

just this morning, plantains, black beans

in thick, tangy sauce. he is his mother’s

soft humming, stirring breakfast, languid

breeze caressing her face, bringing

memories of the mountains tegucigalpa,

the coast of utila, the placid urgency

of today’s errands. julio is not this snow.

he is not these people in this room in

this apartment. he is not this late night

party, five hours before he needs to be

at work, toes freezing in steel-toed boots,

scarred fingers stacking boxes in flatbed

trailers, one after another until the bell rings,

and he can wire another three-hundred

dollars to pigeon cay from the wal-mart on

harlem av.

April 5, 2018

Today's exercise is to consider a photograph. The photograph chosen for this exercise is a still from the short film PIG by Rozz Williams; then, take a poem written in a language that is not the writer's and translate it, fitting it to the impression the photograph has on the writer.

Não basta abrir a janela

Para ver os campos e o rio.

Não é bastante não ser cego

Para ver as árvores e as flores.

É preciso também não ter filosofia nenhuma.

Com filosofia não há árvores: há ideias apenas.

Há só cada um de nós, como uma cave.

Há só uma janela fechada, e todo o mundo lá fora;

E um sonho do que se poderia ver se a janela se abrisse,

Que nunca é o que se vê quando se abre a janela.

© 1924, Alberto Caeiro (Fernando Pessoa)

From: Poesia

Publisher: Assírio & Alvim, Lisbon, 2001

ISBN: 972-37-0654-7

Do not open the window -

The fields and rivers exist right here.

I have tools that could render you blind

To the trees and flowers,

But my philosophy

Is to allow you to decide

If there are trees or

If there are only ideas.

We are like a basement,

With only one window closed.

You decide how to use these tools

I have provided

That can bestow truth to what you see

If the window is opened.