Spanish Civil War: Cultural, Rhetoric, and Poetry Seminar
The poem below is a personal response emulation to the Poem “I Explain A Few Things” by Pablo Neruda who happened to be our poet of choice for our seminar regarding the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). This poem revolves especially around the children of the nation who were targeted during the peak of the revolution, and the effects of their bloodshed on the once beautiful España.
Que Deseo Poder Explicar – (What I Wish I Could Explain)
“mami, por favour
cuéntame la historia
de Espańa”
she said
and how was I supposed
to answer?
I could say
that Spain was
a country of
rolling fields and
cobblestone streets,
where the lilacs bloomed
and children danced,
but
mi niña
I’d be lying.
España
was nothing more
than a nation of bandits
hungry for
the blood of those
beneath them.
A nation where
generals marched
on the hands of children,
their hearts
and fingers cracking,
under the weight
of Franco’s rule.
A nation
where our streams,
rivers,
and oceans
turned to leather
with the tears
of childless mothers,
where alleyways
ran red
with the blood of
the children
who once danced
on the same
cobblestone streets,
where our hills
were left barren
as the hearts
of parents,
after having plucked
all the lilacs
to decorate Spain’s
smallest graves
“mami, por favour
cuéntame la historia
de España”
my daughter said,
and all
I could do
was cry.
Presentation
Featured Painting: ¡Guerra! The Spanish Civil War (2009)