(((((((((((((((((((((21)))))))))))))))))))))

"The end of the world will be today"
advertise bus posters and radio programs
"The End of the World” is a phrase that reminds me of childhood
My grandmother, who was very devout and went to church every Sunday,
once told me that people were a little sick in the head
to think that the world would end in a punishment from God
saying, "it is what people will do that will end the world"
As I was a child I smiled without fully understanding that phrase,
but now I understand.

"The End of the World” is the whistling of bombs
falling slowly over a small town that
just celebrated a birth, a birthday and a wedding.
"The End of the World” is the dark street of panic
is the monster that haunts us
with the experience that we want to forget.

"The End of the World” is the cry of pleasure in love
is the cry of pain in childbirth
the silent cry of the father who lost his daughter
the farmer who lost his crop.
"The End of the World” is the celebration of the gods,
idols, commandments, stones, robes, flags, anthems,
political parties, penance, pistols, loans,
"The End of the World” is the gift of God for having sinned
or our own invention for wanting to be afraid.
"The End of the World” … "The End of the World” …

There are those who say that everything will begin in a remote village
in the mountains of Colombia,
others assert that it will begin at a place full of books
with people listening to a poem about the end of the world.

Confronting the eyes of faith, what can the poet do?
just keep reading while the ground shakes
and if is not shaking would it be a disappointment
after such a tremendous prediction
oh please help me to live at this very moment
"The end of the world”
by raising your right foot and letting it down hard on the floor
then do the same with the left
and repeat this operation eleven times
until you feel the earth tremble, then
Stop instantly and listen
… listen …
… listen the silence …
… the silence that remains after producing
"The end of the world."



First version of "Poema del Fin del Mundo"
Translated by Nina Serrano.
Poem read @ SF Public Library, the day of "The End of the World", May 21, 5:05pm


-peace and poetry-

MANTRA (a cellular poem)

Awakening is a color
the silence an aroma
the embrace a song for my soul

Awakening is a color
the silence an aroma
the embrace a song for my soul

Awakening is a color
the silence an aroma
the embrace a song for my soul




-peace and poetry-
2011 English version of Mantra 2008
to be read by CELL-PHONE, as part of Adrian project
"Poemas Celulares/Cellular Poems"
translation by Nina Serrano and Adrian Arias
As part of "OLMECA" @ de Young Museum poetry reading
March 18, Koret Auditorium
...and....
@ The Independent, April 1st
as part of Rupa & The April Fishes concert
Benefit for Voice of Roma

( ( ( ( f o u r ) ) ) )

four seasons
four elements
four cardinal points
four way road

rail-road-cros-sing

four hands
four arms
four legs
four walls

four
looks like a house without a roof
and so that …

five…
finishes covering the sky, it doesn’t matter
hug me tight
close your eyes
and dream.



-peace and poetry-
© Adrian Arias
Translation by Nina Serrano
Photo & Object by Adrian, as part of "Beautiful Trash"
Art Residency @ de Young Museum 2010

(((three)))

Snfffffff… you inhale the precise qualifying adjectives
you exhale silence…

Grandmother chews the garlic with a piece of river stone
that is round, black and perfectly polished…

160 years ago an enormous rock fell to Earth that converted dinosaurs
into future gasoline…

A man notes in his notebook that 718 days are left
till the end of the world and lights his cigar…

According to the dictionary “Day” is a time
in which the sun is above the horizon…

You feel the aroma of the rain
is like a recently cut tree branch…

“Silence” is a prison of condemned words to live
without showing its face because of the fault of some fault…

That woman has risen to the heights just to touch the moon
and the moon turns her eyes away with every step…

“Blame” I an insect that causes more bites than any other
and provokes a stinging of unlimited dimensions…

However I don’t know how to explain that
I dream that I wake and don’t remember my dream…


Translated by Nina Serrano
(original version in spanish here)

-peace and poetry-
Adrian, January 3rd, 2011

((two))

moon-sun
up-down
feet-head
asleep-awake
slap-hug
silence-scream

e-q-u-i-l-i-b-r-i-u-m

eyes-eyes
body-body
fingers fingers fingers fingers

dis-equi-lib-rium

panties-teeth
mouth-belly button
tongue-cloud
lightening-sea shore
abyss-salt
tunnel-sky

e-q-u-i-l-i-b-r-i-u-m





Translated by Nina Serrano
(original version in spanish here)


-peace and poetry-
Adrian, January 2nd, 2011

My personal plastic sounds

1
I dream in a sea
of Polyethylene sounds
and plastic caress.

2
I wake up and look at the sky
polyester clouds raining nylon threads
over my Melamine face.

3
I play the drum of my skin
to the rhythm of polystaturated carbon
of my celofan soul.

4
If everything is a dream
I want to share the secret sound
of my journey with you.

5
Every morning plastic visits my mouth
in the form of a brush for my teeth
of a cup, of food…

6
Every morning coffee
and its aroma and its music
visit the plastic to dance.

7
My body resists to change
but I am a chameleon
half flesh half PVC.







Haiku-performance by Adrián
as part of "Beautiful Trash" project
@ de Young Museum SF
Friday December 10, 3:33pm
Photos by Danica Conneely
Thanks to Claudia Camille for her help



-peace and poetry-

VITIS VINIFERA

“VITIS VINIFERA” (Climbing Grapevine)

Wood in the skin
after embrace
Vine of light
whisper in the afternoon
body that leaves its house
in the agony of air
imprisoned without feet but desired
unable to go back to the root
turning into memory
into aroma into river into madness into moon
that helps the lovers to savor the next kiss
and the lonely to sing without fear
this poem.


“VITIS VINIFERA”

Madera en la piel
después abrazo
enredadera de luz
murmullo en la tarde
cuerpo que deja su casa
en la agonía del aire
encarcelado y sin pies pero deseado
sin poder volver a la raíz
se convierte en memoria
en aroma en río en locura en luna
que ayuda a los amantes a saborear el siguiente beso
y a los solitarios a cantar sin miedo
este poema.





-peace and poetry-
Adrian


Award poem at Struga Poetry Evenings, Macedonia, 2009
Adrian Arias (Peru-US)
English translation by Nina Serrano