by
Francisco X. Alarcón
| On Monday I Feel Like a Dragon early on Monday my hair stands out like a sea urchin I can barely open the shut oysters of my sleepy eyes Monday morning I’m a wild porcupine with a real bad humor this trail of smoke you see following me it’s the dragon in me ready to let go at any moment a big blazing roar but a friendly “good morning!” is enough to douse its fire after I greet and chat laughing aloud with many of my classmates by mid-morning I’m so happy to be at school on Monday | El lunes me siento como un dragón el lunes temprano tengo el pelo parado como erizo de mar las ostras cerradas de mis ojos dormilones apenas las puedo abrir el lunes de mañana soy un puercoespín de muy mal humor esta cola de humo que ven dejo al pasar es el dragón en mí listo para rugir en cualquier momento un gran llamarón pero un amistoso “¡buenos días!” basta para su fuego apagar después de saludar charlar y reírme con compañeros del salón a media mañana estoy muy feliz de estar en la escuela el lunes |
© 2011 Francisco X. Alarcón. All rights reserved.
Well, Francisco X. Alarcón has just nailed Monday mornings, all the dragon-breath and porcupine hairiness of it... and the forces that chase the dragon feeling away, too. While music may be the universal language, I suspect the feeling this poem captures is shared wherever kids go back to school (or, dare I say it, adults go back to work) on a Monday... and I bet that's within and outside of our universe, for that matter!
If you follow this link, you'll be able to watch a handful of videos in which Francisco X. Alarcón discusses everything from his writing process to being a bilingual, binational, bicultural poet and what that means. You'll hear his poetry, too, and, if you're like me, you'll start off saying "I'll watch one or two" and you'll watch and listen to them all. He's a natural storyteller and fabulous poet (as you can see via his last entry here, too), and I'm thrilled to have him here as part of 30 Poets/30 Days.
Yesterday we had ONE LANGUAGE: Listening to Saint-Saens' The Swan by Joan Bransfield Graham. Tomorrow we start with Charles Waters and I Wear Mommy's Dress! For more information on 30 Poets/30 Days and how to follow along, please click here.
6 comments:
I love this - I think it may apply to my life more than on Mondays, though. The sea urchin hair, and the smoke, at the very least...
I love this, especially the wild porcupine. It's not me, but I know many people it describes well. It seems appropriate that I highlighted Spanish/English poetry yesterday. Seems like we're on the same wavelength some days!
Long ago when I was fluent in Spanish, I read Francisco X. Alarcon's work with great joy...Today mid-Spanish-fluency-recovery I was able to do so, once again. I love his work, and thank you for posting it here, and providing this fabulous link. GOTTABOOK's 30Days/30Poets is a wealth of absolute delight!
I'm with Tricia in the fact that it doesn't apply to me but I also know PLENTY of people of all colors that will relate to the words of this wonderful poet!
I so love that the poem is bilingual. Still relishing on the power of the images... Thank you for this gift, Mr. Alarcón.
I LOVE "the shut oysters
of my sleepy eyes"
and the "real bad humor." This captures that feeling perfectly. The transformation back to human feels real.
Thank you.
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