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A Nice Day, poem by Teresa Cárdenas |
Teresa Cárdenas Angulo
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| Dear God believe me if I tell you that I am twenty-something and I am tired of living like this My mother and I talk like strangers So often have I given her the map of my love but always I don¹t know why she loses the way Dear God hands of fire cover the house and the roof is coming down on our heads while my brother lies on the bed listening to his pop music Insects people the floor the television naps in its dead wires the fan rasps its fifteen years of bangs and neglect Tame flies pasture on us All self-destructs I take to the street and am engulfed by the shadows of large stores where the fortunate wander nervous under the legalized light of Jackson and Lincoln-In God we trust Like a phantom I cross the glass My eyes fuse in the televisions my body disappears among the clothes I am left nailed beyond reach paralyzed between Revlon and a piece of meat between a bottle of milk and Versace Distant God how can I substitute my broken dreams and my dresses when I shelter the starved flesh of my mother? when will I be given a good good day I go down on my knees in the road and I praise your name to all but it seems that¹s not enough God I am really tired of living like this Take off your shirt and come next to me push as hard as you can and pay no attention if my house falls with sadness don¹t look if my brother falls with eyes closed don¹t see how I shock my mother Just push and laugh at the stores when they fall on their glass and the last dollars of innocence Laugh because each day there are more of us who are less like ourselves laugh because those who can do something don¹t and those who can¹t laugh and die of exhaustion Laugh like crazy at me because even these poor verses leave me naked and I am so afraid I have nowhere to go. Translation copyrighted by Jean Stubbs, 2000 Taken from the book Maldito Solar (Forsaken Tenement), by poet and writer Teresa Cárdenas. Second Prize, Delia Carrera National Poetry Contest |
© 2000 Pedro Pérez-Sarduy
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![[Teresa Cardenas and family]](images/photos/teresacardena.jpg)