The reconnection with her after the death of hierbamala marks the beginning of this singular poetic journey through liminal territories between the conscious and the unconscious.
In Zenda we reproduce three poems from Never Dies (La Bella Varsovia), by Miriam Reyes.
***
I WRITE MYSELF WITH HER
she achieved it with pleas
with applause with ropes
she, susceptible to being forgotten
or to healing
like any other thing
or person
who cannot rise from bed
with a skeletal axis she holds
the ends of the ropes
ties up loose ends, flags, banners
she sings hymns with a defiant off-key voice
forbidden by the laws
she calls herself for expressive ends
trench of the besieged
a place that surrounds another
with sticky words
everything she touches
does not censor or attack
represents and defends her interests
she says she is very grateful
eager to thank
and to make herself anew
with the fiber of her withered skin
a noose around her neck
she transports us
bare skin in stony places
she sniffs animals to orient herself
exposes something to the wind
with melancholic
and monotonous song of origin
she has something to propose to me
against sacred things that are not questioned
in disobedience to the first half
of the fourth commandment
let us go
the road is long
she secures the load by tying it with a rope
it’s not that I obey her
I go to see things up close
in a luminous way
the wind lifts the dust
lifts the girl into its arms
a calcareous sponge
a white stain in the eyes
the girl
sometimes
sometimes she transforms
forms names
solidifies meanings
sometimes brief and pathetic
she addresses someone or something
only present in her imagination
not to me
sometime she returns between the legs
she needs to verify for herself
I suffer from that too
she returns between the legs
she collides with the fences
thorned barbed wire
the burning containers
riot police long trained
they slow her down
taking advantage of slips, tight spaces
she slips into the opening of things
oozes or exits through openings
drawing outlines of islands
in pronounced relief
the chipped mouth
promising or adjusting an amount
from the place of fear
what seems endless endures too long
she slips into the opening of some things
into the belly
she makes a characteristic noise
like a stroll bordered by palm trees
or a house of horrors
made to bleed
destined to support the end
everything that comes down on her is a reprimand
***
TRYING TO EXPLAIN WHAT IT IS LIKE
to have a body that brushes against everything
it asks me for advice, instructions
and when I answer
it does not listen to me
it has in its head a boulder
covered with solitary flowers
and well-camouflaged guard posts
it calls me to form
a body of troops
I tell it that this must end
it replies that it is the thing
destined for it
and forces me to take a detour
to mislead a pursuer
it tires a lot, leaves me drained
as if there could be no other way
***
SHE AND I WEDGED IN THE CREVICE
to monitor its evolution
like stones that draw near
s he and I crusted with debris
inanimate things that serve
to guarantee the sense of existence
implements of oppression
stones clashing in the hands
and sparks fly
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Author: Miriam Reyes. Title: Never Dies. Publisher: La Bella Varsovia. Available from: Todos tus libros.
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