Categoría: Inglés

Translated  by Katrina Hassan There is a time when abuse and injustice tires the people and awakens them with indignation. This is how they begin the search of liberty and democracy. Some people take longer than others. Each has their own process and history. If they unite, they achieve defeat of impunity and can end all forms of dictatorships. They are rare, that’s for sure. That is why these awakenings are like flowering meadows, all full of hope. The joy of them is as contagious as if part of a great big town festival. To join, there needs to be common…

Continuar leyendo…

Translated  by Katrina Hassan I have a clear memory of the instant when the words got stuck in my throat, whirling around inside. My heart beating a thousand per minute and the spell barely letting me walk. I left that place in a daze. I found myself in the pale dusk light, hugging the night. I looked around, took a breath of air and walked to the bus stop. I was in zone 1 of the Guatemalan capital and I was 17 years old. The Physical Education Magistrate was studied all day everyday from Monday through Friday. The students are given…

Continuar leyendo…

Translated  by Katrina Hassan It has been appearing on my TV now for a few weeks, but I have been avoiding it. I look for movies somewhere else but it is a documentary about the violence that affected the indigenous communities in Guatemala at the time of the dictatorship. It is easy to change the channel or pretend it is only an image on the TV screen.  More than 200,000 people disappeared, it reads in large type. I don’t want to look at it. Not now, I am watching something else, relaxing, with documentaries about culture, food, anything except the one that…

Continuar leyendo…

Translated  by Katrina Hassan They always come to my mind when the De Diez flowers start blooming in the warm summer days. The soft breeze, the sun and the dog days of summer bring with them the watering of a dusty yard with a random container. That house and that yard sheltered the innocence of my childhood. The smell of wet earth comes to me through my window here in this faraway land, where I now sow garlic, tomato seeds and mint. I fix the mint that expands elegantly between the vines and the Lantana flowers and the plant pots, in…

Continuar leyendo…

Translated  by Katrina Hassan Did you know that the Guatemalan poet Isabel de los Ángeles Ruano lives in poverty and needs help? Ha! This has been known for decades! Guatemalans love to add fuel to the fire. We love to appear like we are well off. We live off of that and the “what will people say.’’  Our lives are ruled by “what will people say.” This is why we go with the flow. This is why revolutions form on social media. These are only small bites. Today, Guatemala’s greatest poet name is all over of social media. She is not on…

Continuar leyendo…

Translated  by Katrina Hassan We see the calamity and shamelessness, the same as we have witnessed many other times. What has this time of pandemic taught us? Nothing. Of all the lessons to learn, we chose not to learn any of them. You say the world will change  after this? Yeah right!  That people will become more humane? Not that either. We are the predator species. We eat each other without squeamishness, without respite, the law of the strongest, meanest, and the biggest scoundrel. It’s just as it always is, everyday. We don’t even flinch to others’ pain and we encourage the disdain…

Continuar leyendo…

Translated  by Katrina Hassan The most vulnerable are always the ones that pay the price. This pandemic give us a chance for us to open our eyes and take notice of how many stabs in the back the neoliberal governments of our countries are giving us. Saving the oligarchies has always been the goal, as well as bleeding the state dry. I mean, the money of our people. Nothing is solved by praying, only science plus human resources and material that should be at our disposal for society at this moment. Any leader telling their people to trust in God to…

Continuar leyendo…

Translated  by Katrina Hassan We don’t want to see injustice of any sort, not because it hurts, but because we do not care even one bit about the suffering of others.  If we come across injustice on the street, we cross the road to avoid it. We go in reverse or jump over it as if it were a mud puddle. We are good avoiders. Historically, we have skipped over and avoided the reconstruction of social fabric. There is not a virus more lethal than cynicism and human kind is the best at it. Viruses come and go. The way information…

Continuar leyendo…

Translated  by Katrina Hassan There are days in which I want to write and I can’t. As much as I try, it doesn’t flow, words hide. I light some incense. I smoke my room. I prepare myself some tea. I exercise to stretch my muscles, and take deep slow breaths. Minutes pass and the three lines on the blank page do not progress. That is when I know that today is not a day for writing. The glass is empty. I shouldn’t write when there is hustle and bustle. It does not let me express myself. I need silence. For that…

Continuar leyendo…

Translated  by Katrina Hassan This morning I sat in front of my canvas and I stared at it. It looked like a blank; huge! I was a late starter to painting. I tell myself this as I try to draw and don’t manage to get it right. I think of a painting one way and it comes out a different way. It’ll be less bright, less delicate. My paintings come out rough, with poor technique. They turn out like something made by someone who does not know the guidelines of art and paint and of course cannot master them. I like…

Continuar leyendo…