Searching for the soul of the city
CityPoem 32 - San Juan, Puerto Rico
By Hans Karssenberg
11-02-2007 /views: 965 in past 12 months.
A poem posted on a wall in San Juan, Puerto Rico, expressing the poet's reaction to a graffiti mural painted by an unknown artist.
photo: Dan McCormack
The poem has some plays on words that are hard to translate, so some words below between brackets show the double meaning of the original Spanish word.
San Juan, Puerto Rico CityPoem
You (engreened/entruthed)
the (central/concrete) landscape
of our
(starred/crashed),
smoggy,
quiet,
recently
awoken
capital.
Thank you!
Why?
You were
a drop of colour,
sliding,
tracing
my face.
You were
a wind
of light,
bowling over
my palm tree
legs.
M.Ll.
Original text in Spanish
en verda(d)stes
el paisaje cemental
de nuestra
estrellada
abrumada
callada
(recién
despertada)
capital
! gracias !
¿ porqué ?
fuistes
gota de color
(des)tirando
rayando
en mi cara
charco
fuistes
viento
de luz
tumbando
mis palmas
piernas
MLI
Inspiring Cities Museum of CityPoems
Inspiring Cities has collected many citypoems over the years, as well as organized salons with citypoets and cities doing special projects. We have two criteria for what a citypoem is: the intention must be poetic, and it must be in the public realm of cities. Shapes, form and locations can and do differ.
The Museum of CityPoems has citypoems from cities all over the world. From Alhambra to Zonnebeke, from Taipei to Lima.
Got one yourself? Mail us your pictures (free of rights) and description, and we will publish.
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