poemas viajando conmigo
poem-a-day challenge from 23-30 April
Hello fine friends. Today it is day before the end of the second week of May, and I am sending you poems I wrote (mostly) in the last week of April. On April 23rd, the first day of that week, I left la Ciudad de México. In one week, I visited my parents in Detroit, we launched my book Edge Theory in Toronto, and I visited Paris for the first time in six whole years. Nonetheless, I tried my best to keep up with the poem-a-day challenge for the month of April, but I struggled to write amidst travel’s demands. Some days I wrote more, others less or not at all. These are the poems that traveled with me. Across borders, over oceans, through time.
Since 04 May, I’ve been in Venice where I have a fellowship with the Canada Pavilion for the 19th Biennale of Architecture. I’m working as a caretaker of the incredible exhibition Picoplanktonics as well as conducting research for my own project around living architectures and ecological structures. It is such a privilege to receive the support of the Canada Council for the Arts to be here for the month. I pinch myself every time I stumble through the city, get lost in its alleys, and walk along its canals — this city is truly a marvel.
The research I’m doing here in Venice takes a lot of inspiration from the fun I’ve been having with the Queer Ecologies Research Collective (QuERC) since 2023! A couple of weeks ago QuERC had a screening of video work made by members of its collective, part of the New Ear festival at Fridman Gallery on the Bowery. My video-poem Like A Labyrinth had its public premier and I wanted to share with you what the screening’s curator (and QuERC’s co-instigator) Alex A. Jones had to say about it because I was not able to attend and reading this made me tear up :, )
I won’t make you wait any longer for the poems. You’ve been so patient! Without further ado — poems from the end of April, in May.
23 April
de pronto el hielo que cubrÃa el estanque se desapareció rayos que amaban todo lo que tocaban transforman la forma de las moléculas con la fuerza inesperada de cambios sus yemas doradas derriten el llano en llamas ya que les llamen la atención fracturada del agua congelada aún era la primavera
24 April
las enredaderas recurvan sus cuerpos para escalar los árboles sus troncos bien ásperos agarran más textura cascarosa y se pegan contra un cariño demasiado para matar a los seres vivos sobre los cuales crecen
25 April
vi el pájaro y la sombra del pájaro vi sus alas palpitando por encima de tal pavimento granoso
26 April
digo que estarÃa listo para el arroyo rápido del dÃa mis ojos fijados y mis pies recién lavados una garza vuela en lo alto agarro un destello desde el estanque amanezco máquinas y maniobras mientras piso en las riberas espumosas desfilando el arco solar aún oscuricito oigo tu llamada desde atrás el humo subiendo entran las conÃferas pisas el alcance fangoso con paciencia rastreo los gritos mañaneros diario tomo en cuenta la mancha barrosa rellenando todos tus agujeros
27 April
where the cloud is inseparable from the shadow of the cloud where the apple is inconceivable without the thought of the apple where the mountain is inexorable from the suggestion of the mountain
28 April
an instantaneous nothing i spoke it and it sunk an error of matter within which forces act you did not believe that laws changed by state lines of which you crossed doubly or how cold the contents froze in a winter you had not yet known
29 April
in the morning i am a thinner circle of mist rising from the field i take my self out for heat's quickest fix on the back block's white tables all read INDUSTRY shuttered slightly the wind carried i bundle for warmth inside techies identify- ing with their screens individually behind glass walls accumulating heavy respiration shuttles along the conveyor belt of the street i am moved past these and others where young men sell old vacuums pharmacies w/ glue and tape on the shelves dis- counts hanging from behind cool vitrines around here all signs read AGENCY i think it’s about time to become solvent bring my self up to line items and decorate spreadsheets beautifully if not only to remind my self i put my hands against the skin resting behind the sheath of my pocket: as a person I have very little besides this.
30 April
no hay flores al fondo del
paraÃso
quizás solo los arbustos nos
aparecerÃan
cuando las nubes se juntan
echando
palabras con sus chorros
helados
apenas los bichos resuenan
el suelo
acumulan historias y nos cuentan
himnos
preguntarÃamos si el dÃa aún tiene
casoStay tuned for my next substack dispatch, in which I will share experiences from my fellowship in Venice.
