Excerpt from K’isa Alango
In the Andes people say an image hears, a sound sees.
(You don’t put a mask to be seen, but to see with different eyes)
But there is no word for “beauty” (a song must never strike a right note)
you say K’isa instead,
the slow power to
transform.
El suave endulzar de una fruta secándose al sol.
A slow drying fruit.
Hate and anger becoming peace and love.
The spectrum at work.
A color gradation is an effort of light to unite shadow and light.
“The rainbow has a motor” they say.
To weave gradations is to weave an illusion, a destello that hits the eye.
“Not to mystify with illusion, but to clarify the role of illusion in our perception of reality.”
Alangó in Java, beauty, is not a noun, but a god, a divine manifestation.
Simultáneamente arrobado y arrobante, being in ecstasy creates the state.
K’isa, alangó.
From: Cecilia Vicuña, New & Selected Poems, Kelsey Street Press, 2018
