A la Sra. Lupe Medina de Ortega
1
Los grupos de palomas,
notas, claves, silencios, alteraciones,
modifican el ritmo de la loma.
La que se sabe tornasol afina
las ruedas luminosas de su cuello
con mirar hacia atrás a su vecina.
Le da al sol la mirada
y escurre en una sola pincelada
plan de vuelos a nubes campesinas.2
La gris es una joven extranjera
cuyas ropas de viaje
dan aire de sorpresas al paisaje
sin compradoras y sin primaveras.3
Hay una casi negra
que bebe astillas de agua en una piedra.
Después se pule el pico,
mira sus uñas, ve las de las otras,
abre un ala y la cierra, tira un brinco
y se para debajo de las rosas.
El fotógrafo dice:
para el jueves, señora.
Un palomo amontona sus erres cabeceadas,
y ella busca alfileres
en el suelo que brilla por nada.
Los grupos de palomas
-notas, claves, silencios, alteraciones-
modifican lugares de la loma.4
La inevitablemente blanca
sabe su perfección. Bebe en la fuente
y se bebe a sí misma y se adelgaza
cual un poco de brisa en una lente
que recoge el paisaje.
Es una simpleza
cerca del agua. Inclina la cabeza
con tal dulzura,
que la escritura desfallece
en una serie de sílabas maduras.5
Corre un automóvil y las palomas vuelan.
En la aritmética del vuelo,
los «ochos» árabes desdóblanse
y la suma es impar. Se mueve el cielo
y la casa se vuelve redonda.
Un viraje profundo.
Regresan las palomas.
notas. claves. Silencios. Alteraciones.
El lápiz se descubre; se inclinan las lomas
y por 20 centavos se cantan las canciones.–Carlos Pellicer
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 
Is this an ode to pigeons? I love the imagery, actually, which seems to come through even though I don’t grasp anything abstract here.
I’m trying!
Yes, in groups. Also it’s about movement, rhythm, representation, writing…
Is this an old person feeding the pigeons?
According to Google, Chomsky said that reading is a psycholinguistic guessing game. Poetry is really good for this sort of exercise.
But trying selling that to your students.
I don’t see the old person feeding… but I think this poem would work in a language class and I think lit students would like the Chomsky idea…
Aha! I get it. It’s a plaza. the pigeons are going around doing their pigeon thing. Old people are feeding them. A car goes through the scene, disrupting it, but then the old pattern resumes.
Then it’s about dynamic time and cyclic time???
Am I right? Do I get an A, teacher?
Yes, time, I think so, but I still don’t see the old people… 🙂
Oh wow. The nubas campesinas. I am understanding whole chunks of this. A breakthrough.
Oh wow. The nubas campesinas. I am understanding whole chunks of this. A breakthrough.
But is the blanca a person or a pigeon? Am I driving you nuts? But this is exciting and takes me back to the time when I started understanding large chunks of German, being mistaken about some things but correcting my notions as I went along.
It’s a pigeon! 🙂
It’s because poetry has these layers of meaning that help access the language. Are pigeons like people? I ask myself.
Yes, I think so! 🙂
(: Thank you for your indulgence.
The great Salvador Novo wrote an entire book on birds in poetry written in Castilian: http://biblioteca.universia.net/html_bura/ficha/params/id/37941096.html
That translation feature is great. But I always try to understand in Spanish first.
I just signed up to your rss feed!
Welcome Roseann! I slightly edited your comment because I wasn’t sure of the link. But I’m glad you like the poem!