Okay, so I am a bit embarrassed because this is like the fifth ode to Lorca I have posted on here. But sometimes you need obsessions. They are something through which you can channel your passion.
True patriots always die because it is dangerous to love something so easily set on fire.
(Love is something easily set on fire.)
Oh, Lorca, you loved your country, but your country gored you on the horns of its bulls,
of its sacred beasts of cruel geometry, who knew nothing of the ritual that created them.
Can’t you love yourself and love your country and love the country that exists inside yourself?
Can’t you love the dirt and love the water and love the wind that leaves new pollen in the streets?
Can’t you love a man and love the church and love the candles that turn into burning pillars?
Passion is more than its fiery culmination. Lorca’s Spain was more than its murder.
Footnotes
Some background information: One of Spain's most brilliant poets (and perhaps my favorite poet of all time) was murdered/ executed in 1936 by Francisco Franco's fascist regime for being a homosexual and a socialist (though he was only sort of a socialist). He was thrown into an unmarked grave and his body was never found.
Also, the blue and black flag is a reference to the emerging fascism in my own country. On the surface, the Blue Lives Matter flag may seem to be simply a (horribly timed) show of support for law enforcement. But the flag is actually a show of support for a mono-ethnic police state (sound familiar?). A black and white flag is traditionally flown in battle to indicate that enemy combatants will be killed instead of taken prisoner. The people who designed the Blue Lives Matter Flag simply added a blue stripe down the middle. I'm not saying that everyone who flies that flag knows this and is, therefore, a fascist (they are undeniably racist though). But I don't doubt that the people who created the flag did know its origins and that terrifies me.
Lorca loved his country so much. He loved it with a passion that burns through the pages of his poetry and plays. He spent much of his short life defending and ensuring the continuation of its folk traditions (primarily those of his own Andalusian region). I highly recommend you check out his work. He was an artist who subversively fought fascism but did so by exalting the beautiful qualities of his country, not by turning against it.
True patriots always die because it is dangerous to love something so easily set on fire.
(Love is something easily set on fire.)
Oh, Lorca, you loved your country, but your country gored you on the horns of its bulls,
of its sacred beasts of cruel geometry, who knew nothing of the ritual that created them.
Can’t you love yourself and love your country and love the country that exists inside yourself?
Can’t you love the dirt and love the water and love the wind that leaves new pollen in the streets?
Can’t you love a man and love the church and love the candles that turn into burning pillars?
Passion is more than its fiery culmination. Lorca’s Spain was more than its murder.
Footnotes
Some background information: One of Spain's most brilliant poets (and perhaps my favorite poet of all time) was murdered/ executed in 1936 by Francisco Franco's fascist regime for being a homosexual and a socialist (though he was only sort of a socialist). He was thrown into an unmarked grave and his body was never found.
Also, the blue and black flag is a reference to the emerging fascism in my own country. On the surface, the Blue Lives Matter flag may seem to be simply a (horribly timed) show of support for law enforcement. But the flag is actually a show of support for a mono-ethnic police state (sound familiar?). A black and white flag is traditionally flown in battle to indicate that enemy combatants will be killed instead of taken prisoner. The people who designed the Blue Lives Matter Flag simply added a blue stripe down the middle. I'm not saying that everyone who flies that flag knows this and is, therefore, a fascist (they are undeniably racist though). But I don't doubt that the people who created the flag did know its origins and that terrifies me.
Lorca loved his country so much. He loved it with a passion that burns through the pages of his poetry and plays. He spent much of his short life defending and ensuring the continuation of its folk traditions (primarily those of his own Andalusian region). I highly recommend you check out his work. He was an artist who subversively fought fascism but did so by exalting the beautiful qualities of his country, not by turning against it.
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