H e a r t   S o n s   &   H e a r t   D a u g h t e r s   of   A l l e n   G i n s b e r g

N a p a l m   H e a l t h   S p a :   R e p o r t   2 0 1 4 :   A r c h i v e s   E d i t i o n

 

 

RON RODRIGUEZ

 

 

Fundaciones (Foundations)

––by Juan Liscano

 

I

The dust

and inconstant glaciers

the dust

and the slow the immovable

the dust

the expansive

the efflorescent

in contours and sounds

heavy or light

and the dust

oxidations bellow aluminum clouds

and the dust

putrification

                         giant flowers

you fail in making tectonic earthquakes

rodent deserts

and the relapse of the dust

and the dust of the bones

the air of dust

a wasted dusty sky

the dust of the thresholds

bellow the livid sun

the nights of nebulous fires

the sudden fire

the erratic snowdrifts

and the ocean of dust

Life without image or resemblance.

 

II

In the roots

                  dust and ruble

in the bottom of the water

                 dust and ruble

ghostly remains of

                dust and ruble

in the clay wheels of

                dust and ruble

the minerals mix with

               dust and ruble

residues and fermentations of

              dust and ruble

crust of

              dust and ruble

for no knowledge.

 

III

Buds of transparent capsules

thorny flowering fruits

sterile or inundated vegetation

metamorphosis of rock

populous reign of minerals

large tubular veins

                               fissures

fields of metallic gangs

                             in repose

the wind pushing or pulling

the movement of ice

and between dusty clouds

rivers that rise

 

IV

Constant and variable dealings

limited in their government by the atmosphere

effects of obedience and the causes

cycles of resistance or rendition

of expansions or contractions

the forces are interpreted

to raise and rejuvenate

to level and age

in a mandate bordering eternity.

 

V

Permanent regimen of metamorphosis

of molecular redistribution

passes uninterrupted from one form to another

forces of completion and forces of explosion

ebbs and flows

                           graceful

                                           retractions

the changeable anatomy

the invariable constitution

the variable air

the constant return of materials

in the process of construction

slowly or violently destroyed

by the climate and the earthquakes

               in order to start anew

in the circular unity of origin.

 

VI

Truth of the ray:

flying fire

looking for its hidden double

crawling lightning.

 

VII

A world where the verb fell,

uselessly talking.

 

VIII

In it’s last days

everything for them became monumental

nostalgia for animal innocence

and for the altered beasts

nostalgia to return and become a plant.

 

IX

The lights that used to end the night no longer shine.

 

X

What engagement between the waste

of the flowering bulbs

between seedlings with fine hair

and the trash of the city

 

The blizzard whistles between lodgings

of open immovable jaws

The dawning creates a bluish cast

They are congealed

by the extinction of its inhabitants

 

Continuity of the vegetal

between the forms that rise

and disintegrate

flesh of climbers cover the concrete

flowing cascades

mold covers walls

no other destiny

has been assigned to the plants

 

The empty constructions

saturated by oxides from the wind

by waters without erosion

they incorporate into sedimentations

they become materials of the beginning.

 

XI

Not in vain the air

                     invisible sculptor:

it’s innumerable currents

it’s temperatures, it’s voyages

it’s flying vegetations

                               it’s bite

imperceptible

         the ashes, the pollen

brave and flowing

            the incited waters

the pregnant minerals

the drowsy sweaty jungles

suddenly animated

              shaken by storms

by buzzing whirlwinds

its subordinates on a mission of dust

its commerce with mysterious snowdrifts

were the ghostly ice

exercises its potency

 

XII

There is no memory

                    of before

before much before

                    deluges

deluging deluges

rains pouring over oceans

of sweet water

before the rivers, the seas will appear

cloudy

            twilights

                             of reddish rains

what final episode will occur?

over what kind of life will the world end?

what kind of revival will repeat itself?

 

XIII

Every element plays it’s part

in the working cycle

of construction and destruction

The water allied with the wind

builds the monuments or the plains

of erosion

                  delicate arcs

excavated towers and pinnacles

modeled without ceasing

hills of movable sands

and patient piercing

                    valleys and canyons

A persistent drop of water

Is more powerful than the ray

The wind conquers all resistances

In its random seed.

 

XIV

The glaciers glide

like magma

like the olden rivers glide

like the glaciers

like the boiling lava glides

like the aging rivers

like the blue ice

the basaltic flow of eruptions

the magma that glides

the rivers the glaciers . . .

 

XV

Zigzagging line of snow

undulating mountain lines

linear undulations

broken lines of the young sierras

of the uninterrupted growths

veins of lightning

                             metalliferous veins

ramifications

undefined lines

                          vaporous clouds

curved line

                    shooting

                                   black

of the light

                  and its explosion when it enters the atmosphere

its starry brightening

circular lines

                   closed

are all orgin and all ending

contours drawing islands

sketching of continents

lines circles spirals

                               orbits.

 

XVI

The fig tree in the dusk

                                     recorded the animal

felt its wrinkled bark

                                   its pachydermous skin

memorized its lazy footprints

and started to walk.

 

XVII

Wave of sweet water

                                brought a plant

Towards the shore

                               In the shore

the abundant plant

                              brought a seedling

the seedling repeated the plant

in the shore

                          Another plant brought

by the sweet water

                              dried up

without sprouting

The carried the rest

towards the sweetwater

                              that a wave took away

abundance of a plant

                            abundance of a seedling

in the shore…

 

XVIII

Within inexorable and varied conflicts

the  elements interlace

fibers

          temperatures

                                    secretions

                                                       auras

Everything convenes

at a continuity devourous and prolific

at the changes and persistencies

at the cyclical budding and withering

complementing itself

                                      the withered and dried already full

the abundancy encouraging its destruction.

 

XIX

The rocks reach an agreement

with the wood

                         solicited by the

mediators of the atmosphere

and the delegations of water

The ice conquers the spaces

it solidifies and fills up

                                      without damages

The natural fire hides

in places with protection

attentive to serve with convenient burnings

Verdant and sandy areas

extend and shrink its dominions

in twin movements of humidity and dryness

Below the guiding firmament

breath the lungs of volcanoes.

 

XX

The forest of the ruins

rises twining plants and parasites

with mineral flowers

or it breaks off below

winding between cracks and crevices

squeezing the dew

                                  the rain

                                                 the humidity

towards the subterranean galleries

the tunnels and cellars destroyed

where they unite with the waters of shadows

Invisible aerial flora

scatter their pollen

over the rubble

of melted cities

the fields of putrefied absorption

beds of ossifications

new families of plants are born

groups and species composed of

cement like metallic alloys

plastics slowly assimilated

phosphorous sulfur calcium proteins

dregs of infinite constructions

objects that lost their daily condition

utensils tools arms

woods restored into vegetation

Sprouts of green chlorophyll

sprouts of red rust

branches and fungus softening

volumes cutting angles

The dense silence reigns

over other forests and jungles

over a recent relief:

hills, plains, mesas

deserts turning green.

 

XXI

Stations of silence

with the remains of trains that crumble

lines of rails destroyed

sparks of railway junctions

reduced to minerals and spindles

the original plasma reabsorbs

Rinds in the undergrowth

system of roads

where the vegetation is extended

its dust of roots stems and leaves

on the water absent its quagmire

Airports given to

the changes of stations

desolate trails

the ice

           the grass

                           or the desert

liberate the atmosphere

of unending toils.

 

XXII

Bottles in time:

capsules with information

If memory wants to last

persist with its signs

illuminate with extensive objects

the forms of rememberance

whether they slander or discover

ceaseless changes of courtesy

the climate

                  the variations in the wind

the earthquakes

                 the growing

the flowering

the cracks

the combing  of the erosion

will not obtain meaning nor understanding

in the incessant activity                                        soulless
                                      

               neutral

                                                                of the earth and the light.

 

XXIII

The starving sea attacks and devours

and is devoured and attacked

Waves and showers mix

its waters salty or earthy

There is no rest but convulsions

crusts that elevate

and valleys that inundate

platforms that enlargen

and bottoms that are sunk

The edges are of the earth and the sea

they are confused

                                for cliffs and beaches

between foam and pebbles.

 

XXIV

The wind sows

randomly, through currents, through blows

or depositing pollen, grains, bulbs

in the soil constantly ready

penetrated by the heat and the humidity

modeled by the rain

mixed up in the air

there is no selection of seeds

but nutritional necessities

of the earth

                   in the alliance with the climate

favoring like that

                            the orders

of the fertile fate.

 

XXV

Vegetable organs bland and tender

protected by the epidermis

skin and pores

                          mouths of the stomachs

interior or external glands

extending the protective cuticle

excretory hair of the tissues

segregating sappy juices

vesicular glands of the orange tree

of myrtle from the rue

eminent expansions of the skin

warts thorns needles

stems leave

                     innumerable forms

flora that the light embraces

fruit that the earth receives.

 

XXVI

In the neck of the root

place of light and shade

place of energies that stretch out

raising up from the shoots the seedlings

in buds stems leaves branching out

or spreading out

to suckle humus clay fertilizers

the primary materials

the organic particles

of the inexhaustible lime

Two headed universe

one of air and the variable lights

and another of the putrefaction

renovator.

 

XXVII

semi lunar cells … wet faces of

the floating leaves … plants all stem

vital knots … break the seminal tunic

axillas of the green leaves … vertices

of the twigs pollinating stems

in the spring …

 

XXVIII

The ferns of greenness sustained

close to the origin

wont testify to

nor for the seas and the primary algae

nor for the vascular cryptogamous

and the red sandstones

nor for the porphyry dolomite minerals

nor for the alluviums

nor for the glaciations

and the animal species

                                       that broke out erect

between the slow waves

of ice

nor for the sinking

and the disappearances

nor for they themselves.

 

XXIX

Ceremonial dwellings

grottos of occult crystallizations

where the water hole

                                    drop to drop

the duration of the rocks

or it takes them on

                                  petrifying

where rivers are born or lagoons sleep

large climbing plants

                                galleries canals

that cross the mountains

cavities in a row braiding your passageways

in the shadow in the humus

that exhales its ammonal odor

rivers that drown in themselves

chemical precipitations

concentrations whose vapor

stirs up explosive pressure

calcareous gypsum formations

the fetid limestone

substances soluble erosions

transitions

                  rocks that form

in its interior cavities

with insertions mantles capricious colonnades

alabaster cloaks

lodes of quartz fieldstone granite

the ovens of vitreous lamina

                                                of brilliant gypsum

of acidulous water

                               and elastic fluids

dominions of continuous nocturnes.

 

XXX

The rituals never cease

                                        the repetitions

periodic

the cyclical returns

of shoots renewing withering

dust and detritus

                             flowing

and again of births

in the same body

and disasters

                      catastrophic movements

erosions complications sinkings

putrefactions regenerations

funereal flowerings.

 

XXXI

The mountains cloud up

                                         they retreat

they gather

                   they sink

they are in matriarchal sites

alone and windy with their offspring

Trickles of water

run through its hairs

Nothing perturbs its suckling quietude

Lineages begin there.

 

XXXII

A travelling tree

Pursued by roaring foam

In rigid water

it’s marble without reflection

and the flowing bank

flooding depopulated cities

In vain there were tracks

                                           multitudes

devastations

in vain the ovens burned

the metals were transformed

flights were reinvented

waters domesticated

the fire trained

In vain

        in vain

Now a travelling tree

is starting a new lineage

with the foam.

 

XXXIII

The sea of fertile smells

of untiring unanimous agitation

receives the salt of the rivers

strips beaches or buries them  

like before the mountainous complications

when the lands emerged

prefiguring ridges of whales

glimmers of fishes’ fins

by becoming.

 

XXXIV

Order of persistence compared by immanence:

the clay exhaling its virgin odor

the noises that silence makes

the sea obligated to break the coast

to sound in solitude

the plants in the desert full of water

the humidity of the forest wasting

and the waterfalls

confusing rocks and vegetables

 

Energies of birth

and consummation

creating without rest

growths of amazing rapidity

and ferocious extinctions

timelessness of sudden volcanoes

and explosions of berries

in the light of summer

courtesies

               reiterations

whirlwind of forces

that open their mouths

 

The survivors appear

with their legs and antenna

sarticulated tracheal mutants

resistant species of annulated germinations

or the lineage that begins.

 

XXXV

While the sun survives

with its growing activity

while it maintains its splendor

while the trees register

in the wood rings of their trunks

the flows and emissions of patriarchal energy:

mountains of mist

                                clouds assuming shapes

of the earth

                  all the shapes

visible and the concealed

the hidden

clouds of life immanently

                                            crude

rains and rivers

                         and the sea

and misty clouds

                           aspired and exhaled

through the being of plants

already slow in thought.

 

 

[Venezuelan poet, folklorist, essayist, literary critic, and editor Juan Liscano (1915-2001) was associated with the poets of the group Friday (1936-1941), and the so-called generation of 42. His poetry can be traced through these volumes: Nuevo mundo Orinoco (1959), Cármenes (1966), and Fundaciones (1981)––from which this © 2010 translation by Mr. Rodriguez was derived. Originally published in NHS 2011, http://www.poetspath.com/napalm/nhs11/.]