Contributions to a Rudimentary Concept of Nation
By Omar Pérez
Translated By Roberto Tejada
On the volatile nights of a winter
nature corroborates with magnanimity
a Cuban is in training for amusement or amnesia,
so often and unfairly assumed as the same,
he brings candy to God, he cultivates the vernacular, he fights off
cirrhosis with fruit poached in syrup, he conducts business;
thus research has shown that The Cuban is resourceful.
In the weighty choreographies of a summer
nature authorizes already with suspicion
a Cuban meets the ocean with offerings and harpoons,
so often and unfairly assumed as the same,
he finger-counts the casualties, he commits an infraction
he slides his hands into his pockets, he avows and commits;
thus analysis has shown that The Cuban is inspired.
Let’s attend the improbable territory
where with pasty mouths a Cuban and The Cuban engage in virile
conversation
we will learn there by what voyage, by what strange condition
by what exchange
we fall prey to so much ingenuity.
Copyright Credit: Omar Perez, "Contributions to a Rudimentary Concept of Nation" from Something of the Sacred. Copyright © 2007 by Omar Perez. Reprinted by permission of Roberto Tejada.
Source: Something of the Sacred (Factory School, 2007)