[Poem] Rain date
The obese night fell heavy with the rains we remained at home made shadow puppets using light from fireplace with our feet spoke of funerals and weddings never attended cried about laughter laughed about tears ate bread and potatoes even though it was hours passed our bed time I taught her how to become ticklish … Read more
[Poem] Don’t take it personally
The librarian uses business cards as bookmarks. If she wants to call she must first remember what she was reading when you both met.
[Poem] Mongrel hunger
The skeleton of my memory has two broken ribs and a fractured spine. But if listened to closely the barking of my heart can still be heard.
[Poem] With this poem I retire as a poet (2nd try)
Dear Poetry, How can I say this? With this poem I retire as a poet. I will tear the pages from my journal one by one hang them on the clothes-line and hope the wind carries them off to someone who needs them more than I. And truthfully, I secretly hope for some desperate beggar … Read more
[Poem] 1533 A.D. sounds of native Caribbean Calamarí women
…and so, the decaying smell of purple crab shells d r o p p e d from the unclipped claws of seagulls, falling faster than the two handfuls of rain droplets that found their ways from the fabled storms of New England to the coastal skies of Cartagena, where the fierce 1533 A.D. sounds of … Read more
[Poem] Valencian prayer
Valencia breathes undisturbed and undisturbing as the shadows of her dreams try to move. But she remains a silhouette, a tree praying to the sky. Valencia breathes heavily into the cold enough oxygen to create fog. She loses herself in her own sighs. Unbeknownst to her, we too are taken. The thickness of her unspoken … Read more
[Poem] Manuela’s contradiction
Beneath the canopy, Manuela and the blind man were startled awake by suppressed moans, and looked around to make sure they weren’t surrounded, but even the shadows had shadows and she could not conclusively discern whether they were outside or embraced by the cold and unforgiving granite arms of a medieval dungeon like was so … Read more
[Poem] Amazon lullaby
Those nocturnal beings taking refuge beneath the jungle’s canopy during the storm did not snore, but those strange birds above and observing the incident would have colourfully claimed that the two so desired. And so, the toucans, parrots, even the vampire bats, compassionate as they are in the wild, sang a harmonized, hypnotic lullaby that … Read more
[Poem] Puberty
In a small Colombian town during the first week of La Violencia women sang with their hearts while men sang for power. Mami sang as she played the piano in our living room. She was first feminine voice I’d ever heard. I would sneak in wearing socks instead of shoes as she played with her … Read more
[POEM] Evolution
She is allergic to dinosaurs though one can’t tell and she wouldn’t know it. As a child she thought she domesticated one but it was only a lizard named Rex. She often departs the Museum of History with an unexplainable rash. Partaking in these frequent outings on a leash but in the child’s hip pocket, … Read more
[POEM/VIDEO] Medellín
Excerpt from poem: “This is I, questioning existence. Twenty-two years, fifty-nine days, and twenty-one hours on the road, hitchhiking back to my birth, walking backwards into the future facing the past, reading back words of my autobiography, looking for any clue that will lead me toward the womb of my conception…” To listen to the … Read more
[POEM]: The Obituary Editor
At seventeen, Rodolfo worked for the local newspaper editing the weather page and obituaries. When a notification was submitted for someone not yet dead, Rodolfo’s job was made difficult. He was a cab driver who never wore a hat, even during winter months, because he was proud of his unruly white curls and liked to show … Read more
[POEM] Carnal Cartagena
As el jefe puts down his morning coffee his daughter is at home with the barefoot delivery boy – who, guiltless, wears his only costeño straw hat. She spreads her legs like a Caribbean child learning to use chopsticks. In the colonial alley nearby, the residual agony of the Spanish Inquisition torments those leaving the … Read more
[POEM] Andean morning prayers
Before the youngest child crushed the first early morning cricket, he chased the foot ball. Four peach-coloured palms ironed and folded the family’s only linen. Even the towels needed indoctrination. Mother kneaded the dough for the arepas served solely to Father and the elder sons. Six peach-coloured palms continued their separate sermons. The men would … Read more
[Poem/Video] Wandering Love
Excerpt: “Just give me a call…we will wander somewhere, together. I’ll take you to a place where the sun goes to rest…where the moon learned to love the night life…where the heart understood what I meant when I said, “I love you.” And I didn’t even need to give my reasons for it to understand, … Read more
La CaSSaDaGa meant to chronicle my various journalistic and creative writing (#poetry & #fiction) endeavours. The project quickly evolved to also become the main cross+street where Colombian talent meets the world’s. La CaSSaDaGa’s new mission is to also share with an English-speaking, int’l audience the diverse, creative talents of budding Colombian artists and introduce Colombians to the emerging, non-mainstream talents of the world. From one CaSSaDaGaN to another, welcome and bienvenidos to mi CaSSa. Don't forget to remove your shoes -- we walk barefoot around here.
