© CatTail by Keith Lanpher
















Gatos sigilosos, silenciosos, hacia abajo
Al tanto de la pausada mirada fija entre las tuberías
Sin parpadear
Sin moverse, como pensativos penetrantes
Queriendo adivinar que estás pensando.

© Mary Estrada - 27 de Junio 2009

Vision from the Blue Plane-Window
by Ernesto Cardenal

[translated by Jonathan Cohen]

In the round little window, everything is blue,
land bluish, blue-green, blue
blue volcanoes
while farther off the land looks bluer
blue islands in a blue lake.
This is the face of the land liberated.
And where all the people fought, I think:
To live without the hatred
To love one another in a beautiful land
so beautiful, not only in itself
above all because of the people in it.
That's why God gave us this beautiful land
for the society in it.
And in all those blue places they fought, suffered

One patch of blue looks more intense...
And I thought I was seeing the sites of all the battles there,
and of all the deaths,
behind that small, round windowpane

I'm going up the country, babe don't you wanna go
I'm going up the country, babe don't you wanna go
I'm going to some place where I've never been before
I'm going, I'm going where the water tastes like wine
Well I'm going where the water tastes like wine
We can jump in the water, stay drunk all the time
I'm gonna leave this city, got to get away
I'm gonna leave this city, got to get away
All this fussing and fighting, man, you know I sure can't stay
Now baby, pack your leaving trunk, you know we've got to leave today
Just exactly where we're going I cannot say, but We might even leave
the USA 'Cause there's a brand new game that I want to play
No use of you running, or screaming and crying
'Cause you've got a home as long as I've got mine

Porque te tengo y no
porque te pienso
porque la noche está de ojos abiertos
porque la noche pasa y digo amor
porque has venido a recoger tu imagen
y eres mejor que todas tus imágenes
porque eres linda desde el pie hasta el alma
porque eres buena desde el alma a mí
porque te escondes dulce en el orgullo
pequeña y dulce
corazón coraza

porque eres mía
porque no eres mía
porque te miro y muero
y peor que muero
si no te miro amor
si no te miro

porque tú siempre existes dondequiera
pero existes mejor donde te quiero
porque tu boca es sangre
y tienes frío
tengo que amarte amor
tengo que amarte
aunque esta herida duela como dos
aunque te busque y no te encuentre
y aunque
la noche pase y yo te tenga
y no.

[Corazón Coraza - Mario Benedetti]

Cuando te pienso
se diluyen las calles,
las plazas, las ciudades;
caen los mapas y sus coordenadas
y emerges tú
entre el desarraigo.

Prescindo de parentescos
de la formalidad de los años,
de los colores, del gesto,
y emerges tú
en la palabra que sigue a la siguiente,
en las ganas de perpetuar
un himno a capella.


[CUANDO TE PIENSO por Lola Crespo Rodríguez]

At 4-way stops intersection of of CR 415 and Pioneer (I think) but definitely in the middle of horse farms and woods all about. Everyone has to stop... then in varying degrees of ROARING away they go -motorcycles, pick-ups, horses and cows being hauled, hugh bales of hay balanced in little trucks, dogs riding like kings, BIG men and skinny ladies in sunglasses at the wheel of BIG trucks, AND the dump trucks, haul trucks, county trucks, gas and recycle semis and regular cars, vans, suvs of all shapes, sizes and colors. What a racket. Non-stop. I counted on average 25 vehicles per minute as I sat on the bench near the door into the Cabbage Patch looking at the puddle of my car's coolant fluid spreading over their front 'yard'.

OK, back up.

No, I am just going forward with my saga. The tow would be here in an hour. And hour and a half tops. The car sat out back. Its rattling, scraping and spewing over. Roosters and chickens free roaming about the building and across the road. Crowing as they peck for lunch. Then a small white roo proceeds to cross the road, stops half way to strut, spread his wings and crow loudly before running across. And there is almost no end to the traffic on 415... Maybe 10-15 seconds breaks.

12:30 and two customers come in on bikes -real dudes! Another dude comes out and gets on an ancient tractor that looks like it should be in a museum, starts it up and off he goes down the road to home, I presume. He has a very long braid hanging down his back. The two Bud drinker dudes come out and sit down at the picnic table near me.

WHERE are you Enterprise Towing? It's been an hour.

I can't tell what the dudes are saying 'cause my hearing aids are turned off. Even if they were on, I couldn't hear for the road-roar. Two more roosters proceed to cross the slower traffic road. One runs, the other saunters halfway then runs. One dude goes inside, one still outside. Awkward. Good, second dude is back and off they roar on their cycles...

This is going to be a long day and I involuntarily will help stimulate the economy. An hour later, I am home, the monster-car is parked awaiting another tow on Monday since only 14 miles of towing is free. And I am very much enjoying peaceful quiet.