Tres Palabras, Three Words
joven, juego, espíritu
youth, play, spirit
corazón, vuela, voces
heart, fly, voices
llores, alma, emociones
cry, soul, feelings
hogar, coneccion, vida
home, connection, life
mira, entiendo, digo
look, understand, speak
calendario, dia, ritmo
calendar, day, rhythm
aire, fueguito, hermano
air, flame, brother
arriba, acción, pensado
up, action, think
velocidad, legendario, historia
speed, legendary, story
suave, quiero, noche
smooth, wanting, night
ojos, animales, liñas
eyes, animals, lines
(ELE / Eva L. Elasigue CC-BY 4.0 Creative Commons)
This poem was written and performed live within this benefit circus cabaret. There was also a class of schoolkids in attendance from the local area, so I decided on a form that many ages could enjoy, that would add just a little spice in the transitions between acts. This was similarly performed like the first Cabaret Poem, where each set was the inspiration for something that was read aloud by myself directly afterward. Three words is enough to set, evoke, or recall an image, and I read each three words in both languages, for a bilingual audience. I’m considering this another form that others could use, like the wordpairing in A Wizard Sees, The Alien Observes, also created live with this Momentom Collective residency. Three words is something that a language novice can conjure with translation to respond to an image.
I made a dancing entrance to my typewriter as with Cabaret Poem, this time solo with a flow torus. This piece was called Magnetism, or Magnetic Aura, or Magnetic Field. It alluded to the shape of the magnetic field of planet Earth, as well as that of the human body, as reflected in the shape of the object. Each three words could be seen as particles attracted to the energy of the performance. I had previously also performed with the torus as a water spirit with the Cutthroat Pirates float in the Friday Harbor Independence Day parade.
(full entrance performance)
Above, the original composition sheets. Below, performance photos, myself in the lower right corner of both. The second is resident performers and staff families.
Author Eva Lisa Elasigue 