Joan Margarit
spanish
Visiting the Home of the Brave
1.ARAWAK TUNIC
Columbus took their gentleness
for cowardice, and ear-marked
them and their caciques for slaves.
A note on the wall tells us,
when they were weaving, they always left
a small, deliberate mistake,
as though they understood
how the heart, bent on perfection, ends
trapped in its own web.
Red/black chevrons stutter
their cardiograph
from sleeve to outstretched sleeve,
but somewhere, I tell myself,
will be the invisible blip, one
small, wrong
stitch through which
the weaver’s soul
may yet escape.
2.DAKOTA GHOST-SHIRT FROM WOUNDED KNEE
The Cheyenne and Dakota wove
raw muslin into shirts: these were
the shirts for the Ghost-Dance, which,
duly performed, conferred
invisibility on the wearer.
We still believe some form of words
or ritual will come between
us and another’s anger. Not seeing
that our invisibility’s what’s required,
nor that it will be some sudden
memory of past delight that pierces,
leaving this small scorched hole.
From: Punk with Dulcimer
Peterloo, 2006
Audio production: Literaturwerkstatt Berlin, 2014
Visita a la casa dels herois
I. TÚNICA ARAWAK
Colom prengué la seva docilitat
per covardia, i els senyalà
a ells i els seus cacis com a esclaus.
Un rètol a la paret ens diu
que quan teixien, hi deixaven sempre
un petit defecte intencionat,
com si entenguessin
que el cor, obsedit amb la perfecció, acaba
atrapat a la pròpia malla.
El zig-zag negre/roig quequeja
el seu cardiograma
de cap a cap de mànigues esteses,
però en un lloc o altre, em dic,
deurà sonar el pip invisible,
un petit error
el punt esguerrat per on
l’ànima del teixidor
pugui encara fugir.
II. BRUSA RITUAL DAKOTA TROBADA A WOUNDED KNEE
Els cheyenne i els dakota teixien
bruses de mussolina crua: eren
per a la Dansa dels Esperits, que,
ben executada, conferia
invisibilitat a qui les duia.
Encara creiem que algun conjur
o ritual mediarà entre nosaltres
i la ira d’un altre. I no veiem
que el que ens cal és ser invisibles,
ni que serà algun sobtat
record d’un goig passat el que perfori
per deixar aquest foradet socarrimat.
Punk con Salterio, 4 Estaciones 2008