Wherein it is seen how buried always
inside me is a JewTo
howl
out
ballads,
to
hearplainchant up ahead, constantly, right to the end.
To tread ears of corn
on Judgement Day, and
see wholegrain bread
emerge from un-
graspable trays.
On theelm
tree
foreign
to
allrepresentation, without being an apparition, to make out,
and this no miracle, a
juicy desert pear, its
wealth. Of water.
Brought to the mouth.
To bite, eyes half-
closed. A holy
silence haloes those
gathered at thetable:
such
that
I
ammother. And I see father come from the blast furnaces with his
leather apron and the
hot tongs in the
pocket of the hardened
smockthat
still
holds
us
in
awe.The three of us. And him. Mother serves in roadside
inns, father forges in
a glass crucible at the
exit of villages, wanderingfathers,
sons
of
adaily diaspora which they are made accustomed to by, I
was going to say God, but
these are matters of
History. Of the angel
of darkness that
sometimes transforms toexterminator.
At
home
from
childhood
onwe learnt to eat pears from elms, we feed unleavened
bread to the pigs and
sell the pigs to theneighbours.
We
are
(so
thesong says) bearded merchants who speak half half (mixed
together) six or
seven languages, and
we rest (part of our
knack for feigning) onSundays.
Bring
on
the
festivals
wherewe are dead to joy, to the robes of the
Prince and the chaste
maid, we are rag and
bone people, we livein
a
language
hiddenamong lowly trades. Let the rest have the
lion and the lamb:
for us the filthy
sack with the
golden coin to
enterinto
the
Beyond.For my part, till the end, among all the mixtures, I
will sing for the
Beloved couplets
of Sefarad, so
we can leave I
will pack thesuitcase
(cardboard
and
rope):the accumulated dream of new lands, at the end of the
day the Messiah,
anyway, here at
home, I help I
count I canstuff
the
cabbages.
Véase Como Siempre Soterrado En
Mí Hay Un JudíoBaladas
gemir,
canto
llanooír en lo adelante, constante, hasta el final.
Espigas hollar el día
del Juicio Final, y ver
brotar de moldes
inasibles pan candeal.
Delolmo
ajeno
a
todarepresentación, sin ser una aparición, divisarse,
y no es portento, la
pera bergamota,
caudal. De agua.
A la boca. Morder
y entornar los ojos.
Un silencio sagrado
nimbe a loscomensales:
tal
que
soymadre. Y veo llegar al padre de los altos hornos
con su mandil de cuero
y las tenazas calientes
en el bolsillo del curtido
delantalque
todavía
nos
sobrecoge.A los tres. Y a él. La madre sirve en las ventas
del camino, el padre
forja en un crisol de
vidrio a la salida de
los pueblos, padresambulantes,
hijos
de
unadiáspora diaria a la que nos acostumbrara, iba
a decir Dios, pero son
cosas de la Historia.
Del ángel de tinieblas
que a veces se
transforma enexterminador.
En
casa
aprendimosdesde pequeños a comer peras del olmo, el pan
sin levadura se lo damos a los
puercos y los puercos se los
vendemos a losvecinos.
Somos
(lo
dicela canción) mercaderes barbados que hablamos
a medias (entremezclados)
seis a siete idiomas, y
descansamos (parte de
nuestra capacidad de
simulación) losdomingos.
Vengan
ferias
queestamos muertos a la alegría, al atavío del
Príncipe y la doncella
casta, somos traperos,
vivimosen
la
lengua
oculta
entre oficios bajos. El león y la oveja para
los demás: para
nosotros el
churrioso talego
con la moneda
dorada para
entraren
el
Más
Allá.Por mi parte, hasta el final, en las mezclas,
cantaré para la
Novia coplas del
Sefarad, haré
para irnos lamaleta
(soga
y
cartón):de acopio la ilusión de nuevas tierras, a fin
de cuentas el Mesías,
en fin, ayudo cuento
puedo a rellenaren
casa
las
coles.
- 115: SPACE
with A Sometimes
114: NO THEME 13
with J Toledo & C Tse
113: INVISIBLE WALLS
with A Walker & D Disney
112: TREAT
with T Dearborn
111: BABY
with S Deo & L Ferney
110: POP!
with Z Frost & B Jessen
109: NO THEME 12
with C Maling & N Rhook
108: DEDICATION
with L Patterson & L Garcia-Dolnik
107: LIMINAL
with B Li
106: OPEN
with C Lowe & J Langdon
105: NO THEME 11
with E Grills & E Stewart
104: KIN
with E Shiosaki
103: AMBLE
with E Gomez and S Gory
102: GAME
with R Green and J Maxwell
101: NO THEME 10
with J Kinsella and J Leanne
100: BROWNFACE
with W S Dunn
99: SINGAPORE
with J Ip and A Pang
97 & 98: PROPAGANDA
with M Breeze and S Groth
96: NO THEME IX
with M Gill and J Thayil
95: EARTH
with M Takolander
94: BAYT
with Z Hashem Beck
93: PEACH
with L Van, G Mouratidis, L Toong
92: NO THEME VIII
with C Gaskin
91: MONSTER
with N Curnow
90: AFRICAN DIASPORA
with S Umar
89: DOMESTIC
with N Harkin
88: TRANSQUEER
with S Barnes and Q Eades
87: DIFFICULT
with O Schwartz & H Isemonger
86: NO THEME VII
with L Gorton
85: PHILIPPINES
with Mookie L and S Lua
84: SUBURBIA
with L Brown and N O'Reilly
83: MATHEMATICS
with F Hile
82: LAND
with J Stuart and J Gibian
81: NEW CARIBBEAN
with V Lucien
80: NO THEME VI
with J Beveridge
57.1: EKPHRASTIC
with C Atherton and P Hetherington
57: CONFESSION
with K Glastonbury
56: EXPLODE
with D Disney
55.1: DALIT / INDIGENOUS
with M Chakraborty and K MacCarter
55: FUTURE MACHINES
with Bella Li
54: NO THEME V
with F Wright and O Sakr
53.0: THE END
with P Brown
52.0: TOIL
with C Jenkins
51.1: UMAMI
with L Davies and Lifted Brow
51.0: TRANSTASMAN
with B Cassidy
50.0: NO THEME IV
with J Tranter
49.1: A BRITISH / IRISH
with M Hall and S Seita
49.0: OBSOLETE
with T Ryan
48.1: CANADA
with K MacCarter and S Rhodes
48.0: CONSTRAINT
with C Wakeling
47.0: COLLABORATION
with L Armand and H Lambert
46.1: MELBOURNE
with M Farrell
46.0: NO THEME III
with F Plunkett
45.0: SILENCE
with J Owen
44.0: GONDWANALAND
with D Motion
43.1: PUMPKIN
with K MacCarter
43.0: MASQUE
with A Vickery
42.0: NO THEME II
with G Ryan
41.1: RATBAGGERY
with D Hose
41.0: TRANSPACIFIC
with J Rowe and M Nardone
40.1: INDONESIA
with K MacCarter
40.0: INTERLOCUTOR
with L Hart
39.1: GIBBERBIRD
with S Gory
39.0: JACKPOT!
with S Wagan Watson
38.0: SYDNEY
with A Lorange
37.1: NEBRASKA
with S Whalen
37.0: NO THEME!
with A Wearne
36.0: ELECTRONICA
with J Jones