I want to do things, live, make plans, see myself in the
mirror of Las meninas, give a lecture
on the poetry of Flor and Dulce María Loynaz.
Don’t I have the right?
(9)
~
Yes, we’ve lost all self-respect.
This country is a prison, a repressive system lodged inside each
person’s head. The solution to any
problem is to impose rules, bars, barriers, discipline, control.
It’s unbearable, Pedro Juan. (29)
~
On my piece of the roof, I could do whatever I wanted, but
I had no right to ask them to do anything. (32)
~
Thirty-five years spent constructing the new man.
And now it’s all over. Now
we’ve got to make ourselves into something different, and fast. (34)
~
In fact, it doesn’t seem to me we’re [street vendors]
hurting anyone at all, but I can understand how the Government can’t allow it.
If everybody were like us--but no, people are too much, if you give them
an inch they’ll take a mile and they’ll end up robbing you with machine guns
like in American films. (53)
~
The important thing is attitude, compañera, they told me when I tried to demonstrate to the leader
in question that between gas, snack, depreciation on the truck tires, oil,
etcetera, the cost was greater than any possible income.
“Professional vices,” he told me.
“Be optimistic. You
economists think too much.” (53)
~
There I was, a tiny little lump slimy with maternal gook,
wrapped in the Cuban flag, and already my father was scolding me for failing to
fulfill my revolutionary duty. (59)
~
“I’ll call her
Victoria
. Better yet…yes, even better…
Patria! Patria’s an original name!
I’ll be the father of Patria.” [….]
Deeply moved by his own words, my father began to sob uncontrollably, believing
himself glorious. (60)
~
On an island the sea is the only thing that’s certain,
because on an island, the land is what’s ephemeral, imperfect, accidental,
while the sea, to the contrary, is persistent, ubiquitous, magnificent,
partaking of all the attributes of eternity.
For an islander the perpetual discord of man again God does not play out
between earth and heaven, but between earth and sea.
Who said that the gods live in the heavens?
No, let me tell you once and for all: both the gods and the devils live
in the sea. (111)
~
Since you have condemned me to the rocking chair, to this
constant, dark, nearly black redness, give me too the possibility of seeing
a ship, a street, a deserted plaza, a bell tower, an apple tree.
Please God, I want to dream. Dream.
Since I cannot see what everyone else sees, let me have access at least
to what no one sees. It’s so
simple (116)
~