Big Sur (From the unpublished book The bow & the arrow)
Cliffs and the strength of waves,
visions of summer,
a golden blanket over the violent Pacific,
children’s laughs,
stupid tourists, a human mass
converging in a reduced space.
The breeze blows in the happy faces
of the two lovers, far away the albatrosses
in flames hurl themselves
into the Pacific Ocean, she says:
“It’s the Big Sur, it happens all the time”,
The tourists flee in terror,
drive away in their vehicles, Godzilla
emerges from the waters and devours an Asian man
and his camera.
She looks at him, calmly. “I don’t give you peace of mind,” she tells him,
he looks at her, lovingly, and replies:
“It’s the Big Sur, it happens all the time”,
and hand in hand they walk away.
(Translation by Dr. Vicent Moreno, Arkansas State University)
