That's another thing that I believe in is all languages.
And I really want to invite everyone to, even if it's just, for example if you don't have a second language
then I'm going to give you a magical recommendation,
and it's going to connect you to 500 million people immediately.
So you may want to tune in as I look for a poem in Spanish.
It's this: take five words in another language,
of course you have to know what they are,
and put them in a poem that you're going to write that's, say, in English.
And enjoy.
And what happens is that you're going to connect with at least 500 million people
when you read that poem and you have an audience or you put it on the Internet.
I did that recently, and it was in Spanish, and I just said the word "Maraming salamat."
"Thank you very much" in Filipino or Tagalog.
And people came up to me after the reading and said,
"I've never heard those words on stage ever in my life at a reading, ever in my whole life."
All I said was "thank you very much—maraming salamat"
And bang. And that's how it is.
You know that's how locked in we are sometimes without knowing it.
And of course poetry is all about unlocking ourselves and our language and language itself.
In Spanish. I have one. I'll give you ... well I'm here already.
hahaha
I have one called "Fulgencio salió de Oaxaca hacia El Norte"
This is based on the art of Fulgencio Lazo, a Oaxacaño artist in Seattle
There's a great community of artists from Oaxaca in Seattle that have amazing work. I really believe in them.
And this is on Fulgencio Lazo's work, and it's in Spanish.
And I speak of El Gozón. El Gozón is an amazing festival in Oaxaca.
And the work here, I wrote it in the manner that he paints. That's all I'll say.
Fulgencio salió de Oaxaca hacia El Norte
Los ojos verdes el mármol de vida y muerte el ajedrez
y al azar los tejidos de gis de municipio de arpa fugaz
donde caminamos un lienzo entre blanco y anaranjado
el albedrío de pueblos y más que nada el guinda loco
de caderas y brazos rasgados pero no te das cuenta
los amantes los azulejos secretosun copal renace un rehilete de madreshirviendo la tierra
y otras desarraigando las cimas de orquestas y carnes
secas nuestras risas el amor de coco de piña de
ciruela de penitencia de mil generaciones y migraciones
piel de calabaza hacia Norte al Sur al Norte y oyes
los violines de perros que te olfatean a los que no
les regalaste chicharrón o son garabatos estrellas tartamudaso son
papalotes clavados de costillas y lenguas serpientes o brujas
o un niño que despertó al mundo con aceites zapotecos
planeta negro ferrocarril encendido traje de cruces y
almas de lagartos más almas más tejidos geométricos
más abejas picando eléctricas flautas tuyas mías letritas
noches máscaras amarillas iglesias blancas y un tigre paseándose
en medio de todo
juegos de luz tambores y maíz
más vuelos más aguas para el Gozón
así así vamos
por allí va por aquí viene
