Cardinal in My Window with a Mask on Its Beak

Carlos Aguasaco

• Publisher: University of Arizona Press
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN:
  9780816545155
• eBook ISBN:
  9780816545346
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Poetry
• Index: Literature

Cardinal in My Window with a Mask on Its Beak takes readers on a journey through poetic portraits, exploring the lives of passionate social justice advocates and historical migrants such as Ota Benga, Sarah Baartman, Isidro Marcelino Orbés, César Vallejo, and Gertrude Stein, among others. Raw and unapologetic, the poems in this bilingual collection ask readers to question their role in today's society. The verses press the reader to examine what it means to have social justice in our globalized world, as Aguasaco confronts how society treats the Other—be that the immigrant, the Indigenous person, or anyone who embodies Otherness.

A first-generation immigrant to the United States, Aguasaco embraces his transborder/transnational/intercultural identity by building a bridge across time and distance to unite the great voices of the Renaissance with his lyrical poems. The collection offers bold and fascinating dialogue with Spanish authors such as Juan Boscán, Francisco de Quevedo, Garcilaso de la Vega, and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. The poems examine the fundamental liberties inherent to humanity through stunning verse. In a quest for freedom, the poems openly criticize the treatment of immigrants in the United States, drawing poignant parallels with human rights abuses throughout history.

Cardinal in My Window with a Mask on Its Beak brings potent voices of the past to life in poems that critically examine the present and future of the human experience.
 

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Contenido / Contents
• Dos flores de Cardo Santo en el desierto de Arizona
• Two Holy Thistle Flowers in the Desert of Arizona
• Ota No[B]enga el mexicano
• Ota Benga the Mexican Don’t Come Here
• Sarah Baartman frente al espejo repugnante de la codicia
• Sarah Baartman Facing the Mirror Repugnant from Lust
• El gigante de Chumbivilcas abraza a un cholo vestido con traje
• The Giant From Chumbivilcas Embraces a Mestizo Dressed in a Suit
• Flor de mirto en una grieta del concreto
• Myrtle Flower in a Crack in the Concrete
• La risa mueca muda de alas enormes
• The Smile Mute Expression with Enormous Wings
• Gertrude Stein y César Vallejo van al cine con guantes de boxeo
• Gertrude Stein and César Vallejo Go to a Movie with Boxing Gloves
• Una mujer cae muerta en mitad de la calle
• A Woman Drops Dead in the Middle of the Street
• La pupila del mar no visto
• Pupil of the Unseen Sea
• Flor de cacao en un ala rota
• Cocoa Flower on a Broken Wing
• He venido a estar triste y a mí mismo me desgarro
• I’ve Come Here to Be Sad and Tear Myself to Shreds
• Érase un yo de una nariz nacido
• Once There Was a Me Born from a Nose
• Eco en la garganta tejida de sables
• Echo in the Throat Woven with Sabers
• Cerca de corazón y dientes entre las manos
• Fenced Heart and Teeth Between Hands
• Cardenal en mi ventana con una máscara en el pico
• Cardinal in My Window with a Mask on Its Beak
• La cuarentena les devuelve su aroma a las flores
• Quarantine Brings Flowers Back Their Scent
• Evocación de la ventana
• Memory Evoked by a Window
• ¿Con cuántas dudas se construye un silogismo?
• How Many Doubts Build a Syllogism?
• Palabras de un juglar que ha naufragado
• Words of a Wandering Shipwrecked Minstrel
• El éter eructa un planeta gigante
• Ether Belches a Giant Planet
• Cuarenta y tres como en Ayotzinapa
• Forty-Three Like in Ayotzinapa
• Ha muerto Nicanor y está vivo
• Nicanor Has Died and He’s Alive
• Un hombre pasa con su cuerpo al hombro
• A Man Walks By with His Body on His Shoulder
• Memoria en los dientes de mi abuela
• Memory in My Grandmother’s Teeth
• Retrato de un poeta
• Portrait of a Poet
• Del poeta a unas prendas
• From the Poet to a Few Garments
• El poeta se esconde de su sombra
• The Poet Hides from His Shadow
• Del poeta a la que fuera su amada
• From the Poet to the One Who Could Have Been His Beloved
• Bufón y poeta natural
• Jester and Natural Poet
• Miré la huella de la sombra mía
• I Gazed Upon the Footprint of My Shadow
• Cuando me paro a contemplar mis fotos
• When I Stop to Contemplate My Photos
• Inscrita está en mi alma tu mueca fría
• Your Cold Grimace Is Written on My Soul
• De aquellas manos puras y diligentes
• From Those Pure and Diligent Hands
• Si a la región desierta inhabitable
• If at the Uninhabitable Desert Region
• En tanto que el Prada y el Chanel
• As Long as Prada and Chanel
• Venganza en figura de consejo
• Revenge in the Form of Advice
• El poeta y su sombra: palabras dichas en voz alta
• The Poet and His Shadow: Words Said Aloud
• Como un toro abaleado por el monarca
• Like a Bull Shot by the Monarch
• Esclavo de mis ansias
• Slave to My Desire
• De ajenas desnudeces te socorres
• You Comfort Yourself with the Nakedness of Others
• El tiempo que he perdido en querer irme
• The Time That I’ve Lost Wanting to Leave
• Piélago de mar
• Open Sea
• Agradecimientos
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author