silence policy

[...]

It begins, you stand there
and smile.
You're calm, you know what to do,
or so they say,
leg next to the other all your toes neatly placed,
five found in each foot,
it's all good,
now you hide.

You have to be
numberless things,
I'm fucking sick of it.
Sick sick sick I like this word and its roundness but
words have to be arranged in a rhyme,
your life tied up to a tamed, tamed rhythm.





Something that happened not so long ago is tapping my back,
I have doubts and no saint to turn to,
no beads to caress, what do I do
I am so sick of it.

[...]




Text:  © Victoria Bardot, 2014. 'Silence Policy' is a series of texts. What is shown in this entry is an excerpt from them.

Image: English supermodel Kate Moss

However

In the dawnlight conclave
I will confine myself and see that I am, however, free

as sorrowful as the silent times that may approach me be,
them, creeping over the dashboard
the flashing lights in whatever road will blind
my glaring eyes and still,
I'll be, however, happy.



Who plundered the unknown ribcages of my fellow dreamers,
who turned my blue eyes into jet
and put the blackened truth in my tongue's pulp?

I am, however, waylaid.


© Text: Victoria Bardot, 2014
  Image: source unknown

.

fame y hambre and hunger

El fin de semana pasado me desplacé a Gijón para presentar 'Fame Poétika', un libro en el que colaboramos varios poetas jóvenes con obras en castellano y asturiano. Tuvimos la oportunidad de recitar algunos poemas, así como de promocionar nuestro libro y firmar algunos ejemplares!

El acto se celebró en La Manzorga (c/Carmen,20), un espacio cultural situado en el centro de Gijón en el que se venden libros, se sirven bebidas y se organizan numerosos eventos culturales. La Manzorga se convirtió hace ya unos meses en un punto de encuentro clave para mis compañeros de Fame Poétika y yo. Solemos reunirnos allí y recitar nuestros poemas, interpretarlos y escuchar nuevas voces y estilos que difieren de los nuestros. Es de esta diversidad y de este amor incondicional al arte de la poesía lo que nos unió en un primer momento, y la colección 'Fame Poétika' es solo uno de sus primeros frutos de nuestro trabajo.

El poemario puede adquirirse por 7€ en La Manzorga. Si no vais mucho a Gijón y os interesa conseguir uno podéis poneros en contacto conmigo.

-------
Last weekend I went to Gijon to present 'Fame Poetika ' (which means 'Poetic Hunger' in Asturian language). It is a poetry collection which features some of my verses, as well as those of other young poets. In the act, held at La Manzorga (a space for Literature and drinks in the center of Gijón), we had the opportunity to perform some of our poems ,as well as to promote our book and sign some copies !

'FAME POÉTIKA' can be purchased for € 7 at La Manzorga . If you are too far away from Gijon and you are interested in buying a copy, don't hesitate in contacting me!

Mi copia de 'Fame Poétika' / My copy of 'Fame Poétika'

¡El índice! Como véis, la mayoría somos de los noventa. Podéis encontrarme en la página 33 (la edad de Jesucristo) / Here you have the index! As you can see, most of us are 90s kids. You can find me in page 33 (Jesus Christ's age)

ajar

She's resting on the counter. I approach her and ask 'what is in your veins this time?', almost consciously ignoring that I barely know her. It's my last night in town so I dare to inquire about her filthy ways and her amber long-sleeved shirt in Brighton's stickiest summer ever. All this wild child aureole makes her face bony and when I look at her I can only see a big drought, youth has biten her good. In a calm husky voice she confesses to me that she cannot have children and that she's haunted by that, as if she were less of a woman only because of her incapability to give birth. 'I can only bear hefty dry bloodstains in my sapless womb', she mutters. And I like the way she talks and the words she carefully picks. She's got so-called manly vices but her body is the rare victory of all that is elegant. I comfort her by telling her that her arid blood is as sacred as the one spilled over the battlefields and in the midst of her jittery wobbliness she lifts her forefinger and draws an invisible laurel crown over my head. The previous month her cat's paunch had got swollen and her plants had got new branches and her sister's belly had got bigger with the tiny bodies of two green-eyed babies. And she said that when the kittens died and the new flowers shrivelled up she feared for her sister, however she didn't take the time to narrate to me how she intervened. Everyone has secret gardens and weed wears them all away. 

She wags her jejune hips, I wonder if she lets men squeeze her purple wrists and if mornings feel repetitive to her. It dawns on me that maybe her story has a moral, a life-changing blaze, a message directly addressed to me. But I fail to embroider it in my memory because over and over again I keep piercing myself with the knitting needles.

©Text: Victoria Bardot, 2014

Image: portrait of Biritsh model Kate Moss

wide black rings under my eyes

today, after so many years,
the stale quinapril got me sick
though it did not bloom my quaver

in this wasteland,
hallucinations
keep my abyss together,

my vision
in abeyance

a baggie of,
a packet of,
an ounce of,


a sip of - I've become one of
these madwomen
who hear messages on untuned radios
and lick their arid lips until
they get to adore their disease
above all.


Text: ®Victoria Bardot, 2014
Image: portrait of English model Karen Elson

NUEVOS EVENTOS / UPCOMING EVENTS

Este mes, participaré en dos eventos literarios en Oviedo los que recitaré mis nuevos poemas junto con los de otros autores jóvenes.

This month I'll be participating in two literary events in Oviedo. I'll be reading my new poems with other young authors.

· Recital poético 'De las palabras bonitas' en la SEGUNDA PLANTA DEL EDIFICIO DE ADMINISTRACIÓN DEL CAMPUS EL MILÁN (FACULTAD DE FILOSOFÍA Y LETRAS), el 25 DE MARZO DE 2014 a las 12.00H de la mañana.

En el acto, que se enmarca dentro de la Semana cultural de la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, nueve autores jóvenes recitaremos nuestros poemas. El evento ha sido organizado conjuntamente por el blog 'De las palabras bonitas' y la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras de la Universidad de Oviedo. La entrada es libre, ¡os esperamos!

En un ambiente distinto, el SÁBADO, 29 DE MARZO DE 2014 estaré recitando mis poemas en la II TIMBA LITERARIA DE OVIEDO, organizada por EL ÚLTIMO PISO y que se celebrará, exactamente en el último piso del EDIFICIO DEL COLEGIO DE LOS DOMINICOS DE OVIEDO, situado en la PLAZA SANTO DOMINGO S/N de Oviedo. La entrada es libre. Poesía clandestina.

three is the number

Everything seems to be built on dualities, just like ourselves.
Good/bad right/wrong are parameters we apply to define our everyday experiences and still the lines between them are blurred to the point that being what is commonly considered 'sane' is not.

What do we do in a world where life resembles literature so much? When I was five years old I could clearly see the borderline between Literature and Life, thick and golden like the line that crosses Greenwich,
but now it has been bleared.



One has to adapt to that.

Rely on definitions no longer:
One who knows what he or she wants does not need them anyway.
You pay a price for everything you do, but if your soul is rich enough, you will know what is best.

Everything seems to be built on dualities but three is the number.
There is always an element which breaks our boundaries.
The world and us, we are two.

And then three, the unknown.

©VICTORIA BARDOT, 2014 all rights reserved
                             Image: unknown source

do, do not, maybe

Do not put your words into golden frames but make them golden.

Always identify who is boss and change it.

stand by yourself, wear your laurel crown and be slightly nice to death, it is not her fault sometimes.

pretend that a grenade and a pomegranate are just the same thing.

resist  / utterly fall for it

skeleton in the closet? dance with it, appreciate the bones.

be aware you are breathing be aware you can choke just be aware in a general way.

think only when strictly required which should be always but we all know it is harmful. /
be merciful (depending on the situation).

say you do not know it but make sure you know, and that you know better.



just because you cannot be in two places at the same time does not mean you should not be, do not hide yourself under poorly elaborated excuses.

Try three places after that and so on.

you were born naked and you felt cold and you were scared and your first reaction was a yell you can only enter this world through a woman she is the only door.

focus on lungs.

how many times a day do you look above, if the answer is none go change it.

respect and endless admiration to the petting maniacs in the park who do not have a better place to love each other.

suck your blood when you get injured and keep the metal flavour between your teeth.




say you do not know it but make sure you know, and that you know better.


Some old notes. ©VICTORIA BARDOT, 2014 all rights reserved
                             Image: unknown source