Maricela Guerrero
RIVERS
Naming and controlling riverflows is the work of hydrologists, geologists, soldiers, and engineers
who attend to convenient means of diverting riverbeds, enclosing them, draining them dry: so that
they’ll conform to flighty shapes and pipelines.
Guadal means river.
Guadalupe is the name for a river of wolves.
Can we imagine a river of wolves lacing through the mesetas and sheltering streams and creeks
and communities of life communicating in a language that isn’t the language of empire?
A river of wolves that wakes
that runs:
foreign to the language of empire.
A river of wolves that feeds and cleans the words and sentences and imperial notions I’ve uttered
against my own lymphs and fluids: the words I’ve used to hurt, the words that ruptured bonds and
tore at vines. I’m still trying to figure out how we might recover from this painful havoc.
I’m still searching for a river and a language flowing close and free: a vernacular language that
will communicate and connect us to the vacant lot next door.
Speaking in wolves in molecules, understanding how chance interweaves us and offers us
variables: attending to variability, photosynthesis, and the greenness of the air and leaves:
recovering the clouds of our childhoods.
RIVIEREN
Namen geven aan de waterstroom van rivieren en die be-
dwingen is werk van hydrologen, geografen, militairen en in-
genieurs die zich buigen over handige manieren voor het om-
leiden van beddingen, het afzetten ervan, het droogleggen:
zodat ze zich plooien naar grillige vormen en buizenstelsels.
Guadal betekent rivier.
Guadalupe is de naam van een wolvenrivier.
Kunnen we ons een wolvenrivier voorstellen die op de hoog-
vlaktes kreken, beken en leefgemeenschappen herbergt die
communiceren in een andere taal dan de taal van het impe-
rium?
Een wolvenrivier die ontwaakt
die voortjaagt:
ver van de taal van het imperium.
Een wolvenrivier die de woorden, de zinnen voedt en reinigt,
de imperiale ideeën die ik tegen mijn eigen stromen en lym-
fen heb verkondigd: waarmee ik ze heb verwond, woorden
waarmee banden zijn verbroken en klimplanten zijn losge-
rukt. Ik zoek nog steeds naar een manier om te herstellen van
deze pijnlijke chaos.
Ik zoek nog steeds naar een stroom en een taal die samen-
brengt en vrijelijk vloeit: een inheemse taal die ons laat com-
municeren en ons verbindt met het braakland van hiernaast.
In wolven in moleculen spreken, begrijpen hoe toeval ons
verweeft en ons variabelen aanreikt: letten op variabiliteit
fotosynthese en de groene kleur van de lucht en de bladeren:
de wolken uit je kindertijd terughalen.
RÍOS
Nombrar y controlar los caudales de los ríos es una labor de hidrólogos,
geógrafos, militares e ingenieros que atienden formas convenientes de desviar
los lechos, de cercarlos, de secarlos: para que se ajusten a formas caprichosas y
tuberías.
Guadal quiere decir río.
Guadalupe es el nombre de un río de lobos.
¿Imaginamos un río de lobos en las mesetas que cobija riachuelos, arroyos y
comunidades de vida comunicándose en una lengua que no sea la lengua de
imperio?
Un río de lobos que despierte
que corra:
ajeno a la lengua del imperio.
Un río de lobos que alimente y limpie las palabras, las frases, las ideas imperiales
que contra mis propios fluidos y linfas he pronunciado: con las que les lastimé,
palabras con las que se desgarraron vínculos y destejieron enredaderas. Sigo
buscando cómo recuperarnos de este caos doloroso.
Sigo buscando un caudal y una lengua que acerque y fluya libre: una lengua
vernacular que nos comunique y nos vincule con el baldío de al lado.
Hablar en lobos en moléculas, comprender el modo en el que el azar nos entreteje
y nos tiende variables: atender la variabilidad, la fotosíntesis y la verdosidad del
aire y de las hojas: recuperar las nubes de la infancia.
From: El sueño de toda célula
Publisher: Antílope, Mexico
RIVERS
Naming and controlling riverflows is the work of hydrologists, geologists, soldiers, and engineers
who attend to convenient means of diverting riverbeds, enclosing them, draining them dry: so that
they’ll conform to flighty shapes and pipelines.
Guadal means river.
Guadalupe is the name for a river of wolves.
Can we imagine a river of wolves lacing through the mesetas and sheltering streams and creeks
and communities of life communicating in a language that isn’t the language of empire?
A river of wolves that wakes
that runs:
foreign to the language of empire.
A river of wolves that feeds and cleans the words and sentences and imperial notions I’ve uttered
against my own lymphs and fluids: the words I’ve used to hurt, the words that ruptured bonds and
tore at vines. I’m still trying to figure out how we might recover from this painful havoc.
I’m still searching for a river and a language flowing close and free: a vernacular language that
will communicate and connect us to the vacant lot next door.
Speaking in wolves in molecules, understanding how chance interweaves us and offers us
variables: attending to variability, photosynthesis, and the greenness of the air and leaves:
recovering the clouds of our childhoods.
From: El sueño de toda célula
RIVERS
Naming and controlling riverflows is the work of hydrologists, geologists, soldiers, and engineers
who attend to convenient means of diverting riverbeds, enclosing them, draining them dry: so that
they’ll conform to flighty shapes and pipelines.
Guadal means river.
Guadalupe is the name for a river of wolves.
Can we imagine a river of wolves lacing through the mesetas and sheltering streams and creeks
and communities of life communicating in a language that isn’t the language of empire?
A river of wolves that wakes
that runs:
foreign to the language of empire.
A river of wolves that feeds and cleans the words and sentences and imperial notions I’ve uttered
against my own lymphs and fluids: the words I’ve used to hurt, the words that ruptured bonds and
tore at vines. I’m still trying to figure out how we might recover from this painful havoc.
I’m still searching for a river and a language flowing close and free: a vernacular language that
will communicate and connect us to the vacant lot next door.
Speaking in wolves in molecules, understanding how chance interweaves us and offers us
variables: attending to variability, photosynthesis, and the greenness of the air and leaves:
recovering the clouds of our childhoods.
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