Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Washington Cucurto

Wonderlessland

This morning I woke up saddened.
This land can’t give any Wonder.
Is it impossible for this Insanityland to grow
a little bit (a little green corner) of Wonder?
This land is sadder than a woman asking for sugar.
This morning I woke up downright depressed.
And I have 35 reasons.
Someone has to be guilty of planting
the bombs around this Wonderlessland.
Without poetry readers these bombs are invisible,
they don’t make noise, don’t cause panic.
These are perfect bombs that kill soundlessly.
These are the modern bombs that man invented,
they kill like falling leaves.
But leaves in the forest, they aren’t, falling
are bombs. In the cities, every day,
every hour, and people think that it’s winter arriving.
Why would they plant so many bombs in this Wonderlessland
and in so many countries like this one, Wonderless.
Is it that they are filled with wonder seeing
how their bombs explode over our houses, on the heads
of our children, onto our beds and tables; our chairs become matches.
And what will happen to the people of this Land
who don’t react? The people of this land are living in the bombs’
ruins and don’t react and don’t even try
to wake up sad, at the very least, like I do,
this January morning.
You go out onto the street and no one hears the bombs,
they don’t see the mutilated children wrapped in the aura
of their own pain, I don’t know if no one sees
them or hears them or if they don’t want to see
or listen. These are the modern bombs that humanity
has invented, bombs against hearing, against listening.
Bombs that destroy everything with the greatest
possible sensibility and diplomacy.
Peaceful bombs that burn, mutilate, uproot the tree trunks
and turn the butterflies from Patagonia’s Eden of dreams
into wild monsters.
They invented their silent pacifist
bombs that day after day they shoot at us with their
missile launchers and no one hears, or sees, or feels anything.
This is Insanityland, no Wonder
no green, no red kiss, no flow
of children across a field, this
is the land of total destruction,
of catastrophe approaching all that is possible.
I go into the street and scream:
Hey, you! Hey, you! Hey you, Dominicanne!
But no one hears or sees or feels anything,
I go through the streets and the bars and all
the hang outs showing people a mutilated
child and they don’t see him, they don’t see him.
Don’t you see this child who I have by the hand?
I say to some friendly beer drinkers
at a downtown bar.
Where? Where? they say, and keep drinking.
The world is a beerzy lane.
I prefer to think that nobody hears anything
because the noise from bombings across the land
doesn’t let them think.

País sin Maravillas

País sin Maravillas

Esta mañana me desperté triste.
Este país no podrá dar maravillas.
Es imposible que de este País Loco crezca
un poquito ¿un rinconcito verde? de Maravillas.
Este país es mas triste que una mujer pidiendo azúcar.
Esta mañana me desperté muy deprimido.
Y tengo 35 motivos.
Alguien debe tener la culpa de las bombas
que le pusieron a este País sin Maravillas.
Sin lectores de poesía son invisibles estas bombas,
no producen ruido y no generan pánico.
Son las bombas perfectas que matan sin ruido.
Son las bombas modernas que inventó el hombre,
matan como si cayera una hoja.
Pero no es una hoja en el bosque lo que cae,
cae una bomba en las ciudades todos los días
a cada hora y la gente cree que está llegando el invierno.
Por qué les pondrán tantas bombas a este País sin Maravillas
y a tantos otros países como éste, sin Maravillas.
Es que ellos están maravillados viendo como
estallan sus bombas encima de nuestras casas, sobre
la cabeza de nuestros hijos, sobre nuestras camas
y mesas y vuelven en fósforos nuestras sillas.
Y qué le pasará a la gente de este País que no
responde, la gente de este país vive en las ruinas
de las bombas y no responden ni intentan
levantarse tristes por lo menos, como yo,
esta mañana de enero?
Vos salís a la calle y nadie oye las bombas
ni ve los niños mutilados envueltos en el aura
de su propio dolor, yo no sé si nadie los ve
o los escucha o no quieren ver ú oír.
Estas son las bombas mas modernas que inventó
la humanidad bombas para no oír ni escuchar nada.
Bombas para destruír todo lo que hay con la mayor
cordura y diplomacia posible.
Bombas pacíficas que queman mutilan arrancan de
cuajo los troncos de los árboles y convierten
las mariposas de una edénica patagónica de sueños en monstruos salvajes.
Ellos inventaron sus silenciosas y pacíficas
bombas que día a día nos mandan con sus lanzamisiles
y nadie escucha ni ve ni siente nada.
Este es el País Loco donde ninguna Maravilla
es posible ni un verde, ni un rojo de beso,
ni una corretina de niños por el campo, este
es el país de las destrucciones totales,
de la catástrofe abarcadora de todo lo posible.
Yo salgo a la calle y grito:
¡oyé tú! ¡oyé tú! ¡oye tú! ¡oye tú dominicana!
Pero nadie oye ni ve ni siente nada,
voy por las calles y los bares y todos
los lugares de encuentro mostrando a un niño
mutilado y ellos no lo ven, no lo ven.
¿No ven a este niño que traigo de la mano?,
les digo a unos simpáticos bebedores de cerveza
de un bar del centro de la ciudad.
¿Dónde, dónde?, dicen y siguen drinkeando.
El mundo es una callecita de beerinelas.
Prefiero pensar que nadie escucha nada
porque es un país bombardeado y el ruido
de las bombas no los deja pensar.
Close

Wonderlessland

This morning I woke up saddened.
This land can’t give any Wonder.
Is it impossible for this Insanityland to grow
a little bit (a little green corner) of Wonder?
This land is sadder than a woman asking for sugar.
This morning I woke up downright depressed.
And I have 35 reasons.
Someone has to be guilty of planting
the bombs around this Wonderlessland.
Without poetry readers these bombs are invisible,
they don’t make noise, don’t cause panic.
These are perfect bombs that kill soundlessly.
These are the modern bombs that man invented,
they kill like falling leaves.
But leaves in the forest, they aren’t, falling
are bombs. In the cities, every day,
every hour, and people think that it’s winter arriving.
Why would they plant so many bombs in this Wonderlessland
and in so many countries like this one, Wonderless.
Is it that they are filled with wonder seeing
how their bombs explode over our houses, on the heads
of our children, onto our beds and tables; our chairs become matches.
And what will happen to the people of this Land
who don’t react? The people of this land are living in the bombs’
ruins and don’t react and don’t even try
to wake up sad, at the very least, like I do,
this January morning.
You go out onto the street and no one hears the bombs,
they don’t see the mutilated children wrapped in the aura
of their own pain, I don’t know if no one sees
them or hears them or if they don’t want to see
or listen. These are the modern bombs that humanity
has invented, bombs against hearing, against listening.
Bombs that destroy everything with the greatest
possible sensibility and diplomacy.
Peaceful bombs that burn, mutilate, uproot the tree trunks
and turn the butterflies from Patagonia’s Eden of dreams
into wild monsters.
They invented their silent pacifist
bombs that day after day they shoot at us with their
missile launchers and no one hears, or sees, or feels anything.
This is Insanityland, no Wonder
no green, no red kiss, no flow
of children across a field, this
is the land of total destruction,
of catastrophe approaching all that is possible.
I go into the street and scream:
Hey, you! Hey, you! Hey you, Dominicanne!
But no one hears or sees or feels anything,
I go through the streets and the bars and all
the hang outs showing people a mutilated
child and they don’t see him, they don’t see him.
Don’t you see this child who I have by the hand?
I say to some friendly beer drinkers
at a downtown bar.
Where? Where? they say, and keep drinking.
The world is a beerzy lane.
I prefer to think that nobody hears anything
because the noise from bombings across the land
doesn’t let them think.

Wonderlessland

This morning I woke up saddened.
This land can’t give any Wonder.
Is it impossible for this Insanityland to grow
a little bit (a little green corner) of Wonder?
This land is sadder than a woman asking for sugar.
This morning I woke up downright depressed.
And I have 35 reasons.
Someone has to be guilty of planting
the bombs around this Wonderlessland.
Without poetry readers these bombs are invisible,
they don’t make noise, don’t cause panic.
These are perfect bombs that kill soundlessly.
These are the modern bombs that man invented,
they kill like falling leaves.
But leaves in the forest, they aren’t, falling
are bombs. In the cities, every day,
every hour, and people think that it’s winter arriving.
Why would they plant so many bombs in this Wonderlessland
and in so many countries like this one, Wonderless.
Is it that they are filled with wonder seeing
how their bombs explode over our houses, on the heads
of our children, onto our beds and tables; our chairs become matches.
And what will happen to the people of this Land
who don’t react? The people of this land are living in the bombs’
ruins and don’t react and don’t even try
to wake up sad, at the very least, like I do,
this January morning.
You go out onto the street and no one hears the bombs,
they don’t see the mutilated children wrapped in the aura
of their own pain, I don’t know if no one sees
them or hears them or if they don’t want to see
or listen. These are the modern bombs that humanity
has invented, bombs against hearing, against listening.
Bombs that destroy everything with the greatest
possible sensibility and diplomacy.
Peaceful bombs that burn, mutilate, uproot the tree trunks
and turn the butterflies from Patagonia’s Eden of dreams
into wild monsters.
They invented their silent pacifist
bombs that day after day they shoot at us with their
missile launchers and no one hears, or sees, or feels anything.
This is Insanityland, no Wonder
no green, no red kiss, no flow
of children across a field, this
is the land of total destruction,
of catastrophe approaching all that is possible.
I go into the street and scream:
Hey, you! Hey, you! Hey you, Dominicanne!
But no one hears or sees or feels anything,
I go through the streets and the bars and all
the hang outs showing people a mutilated
child and they don’t see him, they don’t see him.
Don’t you see this child who I have by the hand?
I say to some friendly beer drinkers
at a downtown bar.
Where? Where? they say, and keep drinking.
The world is a beerzy lane.
I prefer to think that nobody hears anything
because the noise from bombings across the land
doesn’t let them think.
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère