WEBVTT NOTE Created by CaptionSync from Automatic Sync Technologies www.automaticsync.com 00:00:00.286 --> 00:00:03.426 align:middle >> This is a poem that's really not a problem. 00:00:03.426 --> 00:00:12.406 align:middle It's a little poetic prose piece that begins the novel that I'm reading that the stories are 00:00:12.406 --> 00:00:21.016 align:middle from the novel Prieta, and it's called La Cuna, which means either the Cradle or the -- 00:00:23.146 --> 00:00:27.736 align:middle Your place, the place where you're born, your homeland, la cuna. 00:00:28.726 --> 00:00:31.846 align:middle And, as you can see, I've been revising it on the plane 00:00:33.406 --> 00:00:38.546 align:middle and I constantly revise that, even after publication. 00:00:40.136 --> 00:00:42.696 align:middle There's a lot of Spanish in here and I don't think I'm going 00:00:42.926 --> 00:00:44.346 align:middle to -- I don't have the gloss with me. 00:00:48.436 --> 00:00:48.896 align:middle Sorry. 00:00:55.846 --> 00:00:57.456 align:middle La cuna cuelga del techo. 00:00:57.876 --> 00:01:00.086 align:middle A cradle hangs from the rafters. 00:01:00.686 --> 00:01:02.976 align:middle She swings it back and forth. 00:01:03.716 --> 00:01:07.256 align:middle Rechina. The leather thong's creak. 00:01:08.086 --> 00:01:15.716 align:middle Carito, her little brother, stirs pink fingers on curl open, then curl up tight again. 00:01:16.476 --> 00:01:19.436 align:middle Oye la canción chillona de las chicharras. 00:01:20.296 --> 00:01:23.476 align:middle She listens to the shrill song of the cicadas, 00:01:24.246 --> 00:01:28.326 align:middle to the sand flaying the walls of their cabin. 00:01:28.986 --> 00:01:32.986 align:middle Outside, the wind whips the sand into fine mantillas 00:01:33.096 --> 00:01:36.986 align:middle that veil her flesh and sting her eyes. 00:01:37.746 --> 00:01:43.476 align:middle Tumbleweeds tangle around her ankles, crash into empty wash tubs. 00:01:44.286 --> 00:01:51.706 align:middle Under the house in the crawl space, hawks, hogs grunt belly up or rooting. 00:01:52.166 --> 00:01:56.966 align:middle Next day, ella y su mamá apartan el grano de la paja. 00:01:58.126 --> 00:02:04.626 align:middle They separate the grain from the chaff, is that how you say it? 00:02:04.896 --> 00:02:09.256 align:middle Granitos de maíz hit the bucket, como el ruido de sandstorms. 00:02:10.086 --> 00:02:15.096 align:middle The clothes flap in the dry wind, sweat beads down between her legs. 00:02:15.096 --> 00:02:17.386 align:middle Anda por el monte. 00:02:18.196 --> 00:02:21.636 align:middle Ojos de águila on the ground watching for snakeskins. 00:02:22.396 --> 00:02:27.286 align:middle She picks moras, mouth corners leak berry juice. 00:02:28.666 --> 00:02:32.856 align:middle The foot trails like mazes in the sparse granjeno. 00:02:34.016 --> 00:02:35.926 align:middle Cactus, mesquite, comal. 00:02:36.806 --> 00:02:40.856 align:middle A covey of quail scurry off, a lizard darts under a shrub. 00:02:41.106 --> 00:02:47.396 align:middle Out of the corner of her left eye, the streak of un correcaminos. 00:02:47.396 --> 00:02:48.616 align:middle That's roadrunner. 00:02:48.616 --> 00:02:55.406 align:middle Mira una liebre huyendo y una víbora de cascabel arrastrando por la tierra. 00:02:56.736 --> 00:03:01.856 align:middle Feet burning, dust powdered, she runs barefoot from shadow to shadow. 00:03:02.726 --> 00:03:06.196 align:middle Watches the vulture circle slowly above her. 00:03:06.196 --> 00:03:10.056 align:middle Algo o alguien se está muriendo. 00:03:11.316 --> 00:03:15.646 align:middle Zapopiles can smell death a hundred miles off. 00:03:17.026 --> 00:03:19.936 align:middle She searches the sky like her papi. 00:03:20.576 --> 00:03:21.646 align:middle Will it rain? 00:03:22.266 --> 00:03:23.976 align:middle ¿Lloverá, lloverá? 00:03:23.976 --> 00:03:24.756 align:middle Quien sabe. 00:03:24.756 --> 00:03:25.486 align:middle Dios dirá. 00:03:26.796 --> 00:03:28.836 align:middle Wants the grass to be green again. 00:03:28.836 --> 00:03:33.336 align:middle El ganado sure could use the water. 00:03:34.366 --> 00:03:36.236 align:middle The cattle sure could use the water. 00:03:37.386 --> 00:03:39.736 align:middle Did I translate the English into the English? 00:03:41.576 --> 00:03:42.716 align:middle Sometimes I do that. 00:03:46.376 --> 00:03:47.386 align:middle Culebrillas. 00:03:47.526 --> 00:03:52.516 align:middle The sky shoots its volts of serpent lightning, the rumbling, the drum cracking. 00:03:52.956 --> 00:03:54.646 align:middle Tear loose a hunger in her. 00:03:55.196 --> 00:03:58.496 align:middle Rain, a grace, falls on everything. 00:03:58.956 --> 00:04:02.536 align:middle Long drops like jewels dig craters in the sand. 00:04:03.636 --> 00:04:09.626 align:middle She makes up a song, sings "Llovizna gris, zacate verde y yellow maíz. 00:04:10.366 --> 00:04:11.536 align:middle Cielo azul. 00:04:11.966 --> 00:04:16.756 align:middle The chickens con los conejos, los becerritos y las vacas." 00:04:19.156 --> 00:04:20.406 align:middle [Inaudible] the smell of wet Earth. 00:04:21.046 --> 00:04:23.536 align:middle Las ranitas aparecen en los charcos. 00:04:24.186 --> 00:04:26.496 align:middle La mamá sapo sale de la tierra. 00:04:32.466 --> 00:04:37.966 align:middle Se aparea con el sapo macho en el charco y ahí pone sus huevos. 00:04:41.066 --> 00:04:46.606 align:middle Antes de que el charco se seca, las ranitas se convierten en sapos. 00:04:50.256 --> 00:04:55.206 align:middle She buries her feet on the soft loose sand of the anthill. 00:04:55.206 --> 00:04:57.376 align:middle Giant red ants scurry around her feet. 00:04:58.136 --> 00:05:03.386 align:middle The buzz of mosquitoes brings evening, smoke from the cabin crawls into the sky. 00:05:04.086 --> 00:05:11.216 align:middle Her brothers get home with swollen faces, red marks on arms and neck, but she walks unmarked. 00:05:11.526 --> 00:05:15.536 align:middle It's something in her blood, she is told, or the way she smells. 00:05:16.676 --> 00:05:21.726 align:middle But she knows it's because the ants and the mosquitoes know she will not hurt them. 00:05:23.116 --> 00:05:25.816 align:middle Later the dogs return home smelling of skunk. 00:05:26.976 --> 00:05:30.046 align:middle Café con leche burns her cupped hands. 00:05:30.046 --> 00:05:34.476 align:middle Se come una tortillita calientita con picadillo. 00:05:36.016 --> 00:05:39.006 align:middle She rests her head on the mother's lap. 00:05:39.576 --> 00:05:46.176 align:middle The mother's fingers skim her skull, comb her hair for lice every week. 00:05:46.586 --> 00:05:49.876 align:middle She knows her mother's fingers will never find any. 00:05:52.366 --> 00:06:00.866 align:middle Dusk the light of hurricane lanterns, mamá, cards, cotton, arms moving up and down. 00:06:00.866 --> 00:06:03.896 align:middle She sits on the floor, hunched over the quilt. 00:06:04.886 --> 00:06:10.016 align:middle Her giant shadow dances on the walls as she hangs la colcha del techo. 00:06:11.306 --> 00:06:13.396 align:middle La cuna hangs from the rafters. 00:06:13.586 --> 00:06:19.146 align:middle Prietita swings it back and forth, rechina, the leather thong's creak. 00:06:19.346 --> 00:06:23.766 align:middle Her baby brother stirs pink fingers unfurl, curl. 00:06:24.346 --> 00:06:30.226 align:middle Oye el chirrido de las chicharras. 00:06:30.736 --> 00:06:34.866 align:middle She listens to the sand whipping the walls of her cabin. 00:06:37.276 --> 00:06:43.696 align:middle That's a difficult piece to listen to if you don't know a lot of Spanish, 00:06:45.056 --> 00:06:47.706 align:middle and some of the more important passages are in Spanish. 00:06:48.916 --> 00:06:54.806 align:middle So you kind of miss some of the part of the story, but it's okay.