A Pernicious Detour by Pablo Brescia

This phrase comes from
José Revueltas.
He means
that language
is time wasted;
that to speak is
to delay the inevitable;
that to write is even worse
than speaking;
that words
are like rings of smoke,
that is,
they move around, they disappear, they are weightless
(but if we need to explain the metaphor
all is truly lost).
But without language,
there is no dialogue,
you might say.
I answer:
So what?
Besides, that is not true.
And then,
when as we begin
the discussion
about…
the page
runs out.


Pablo Brescia was born in Buenos Aires and has lived in the United States since 1986. He has published three books of short stories: La derrota de lo real/The Defeat of the Real (USA/Mexico, 2017), Fuera de Lugar/ Out of Place (Peru, 2012/Mexico, 2013) and La apariencia de las cosas/ The Appearance of Things (México, 1997), and a book of hybrid texts No hay tiempo para la poesía/NoTime for Poetry (Buenos Aires, 2011), with the pen name Harry Bimer. He writes the literary column El alma por el pie for Sub urbano (Miami, www.suburbano.net). His blog is Preferiría (no) hacerlo/I Would Prefer (Not) To pablobrescia.blogspot.com. He teaches Latin American Literature at the University of South Florida.


WANT to support HMS’s programming mission to empower divested Chicago-area adults using storytelling techniques to give them a voice and publishing to give their words a visible home? You can donate HERE or buy a journal HERE.

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