MY VOICE IS FORGED OUT OF STONE
But I believe in MAN
I believe in the tiger and I believe in the tiger’s paw
But I believe in man above all.
I desperately believe in the sea.
But I believe in man above all.
I believe in rebellion, I believe in anger,
in desolation and in tenderness.
But I believe in man above all.
I believe in the foolish man, in love,
the helpless murderer.
Insomniac skyscraper builder,
hopelessly drunk,
scientist, thief, capable of anything,
father and executioner of generations.
I believe in the invalid hombre who cries
naked with his bones and his tears;
owner of a world that trembles with fear.
I believe in the man who gets sad;
I believe in the man when he is singing.
That’s why. Because he sings, because he’s stupid,
I irremediably believe in man.

IF WE CRUSH THE SPIDER
If we remove the claw the cat remains
If we break the ceiling we have a window
if grandmother dies, sister is reborn.
If we lose a foot the shoe’s still there.
If there is no alphabet there is scribbling,
If not there is a century, perhaps there is a week,
if we cover the crack we have ourselves a persian blind,
if the notary drowns, the contract remains.
If we set fire to the train there will be wagons,
if cotton goes, silk appears,
if I say coat, understand pantalones.
If we cut down a pine we have a grove of trees.
If we crush the spider, it will be followed by scorpions.
If we remove the song, nothing remains.

WE BREAK WHAT WE LOVE THE MOST
The sea and I, sitting face to face,
like old dear friends,
talk about the future and the present,
we dream of unfathomable calendars.

He tells me that he is full of bitterness,
that the ships taste rotten.
He feels like a garbage dump,
like he’s buried,
and that makes him cry.

I calm him down by telling him about the way
it is with us humans: our sins,
our old burial practices,

our tendency to break
what we love the most.

Of how it is that in the end, even if
we don’t want to,
we go about, this way
and that, with
our hearts,
polluting.

Marco Antonio Aguilar Sanabria (1944, Turrialba) is a Costa Rican poet who, together with Jorge DeBravo and Laureano Alban co-founded the “Círculo de Poetas Turrialbeños” in 1959, and is a direct heir and survivor of that literary movement. Of humble origin, he studied at the local school; where he met the other young people who later formed the Círculo, and while he has done some cultural journalism work, still resides in Turrialba and works as an electronics technician, repairing radios and televisions a workshop in his house.