a literary journal published by the Black Earth Institute dedicated to re-forging the links between art and spirit, earth and society
cuando estoy fría/when i’m cold
![siempre he pensado que valdría la pena un mundo donde se coman los diamantes o canicas en vez de tirarse por las bocas como palabras que se nos comen o que nos los comemos que se entrecomen o que son alimento común si pensamos que se parecen a la luz cuando se estanca en la vida entonces sería sencilla la fórmula en la cual cuando la vida se estanca se pone brillosita culeca con su color incoloro su cristalino caro y barato qué dientes nos harían falta para triturar el hielo telúrico del aire en forma de vitrina furtiva escamosa tendríamos que tener dientes de dinosaurio o piedras simplemente tendríamos que tener dientes de cocodrilo o lágrimas simplemente siempre mente pensando siempre que valdrían las penas si fueran diamantes o canicas rotas más valdrían ingeribles tengo un compromiso con un hombre que arregla los cristales de los carros tinteando con la luz aquel motorizado ataúd él también me vende los hermanos tira y compra por un módico menudo triste endemoniado día de contrabando y gloria tiene muchos diamantes que de nenes eran canicas [las cosas como las personas aprenden a ser grandes y valiosas] de él pienso lo mismo que de otros planetas me lo imagino aún cuando lo veo con una china en la mano del tamaño de un diamante con una mano que nunca cierra sobre el aire](https://aboutplacejournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/cuando-estoy-fria-Salas-Rivera-1.jpg)
![i’ve always thought it would be worth it: a world where we eat diamonds or marbles instead of throwing them down the mouths like words that we eat themselves or that we eat them that they intereat or that are aliment common if we think they look like the light when it gets stuck in life then the formula would be simple in which when life gets stuck it gets a little shimmery culeca with its colorless color it’s pricey and cheap crystalline what teeth would we need to shred the telluric ice of the air shaped into a scaly furtive showcase we’d have to have dinosaur teeth or stones simply we’d have to have crocodile teeth or tears simply (ever)y mind thinking ever that it would be worth the troubles if they were diamonds or marbles broken they’d be worth even more ingestible i have a commitment with a man that fixes car windows tinting with light that motorized coffin he also sells me my brothers sells and buys for reasonable sad change a deviled day of contraband and glory he has many diamonds that as kids were marbles [things like people learn to be grown and worthy] i think the same of him as other planets i imagine— even when i see—him with a diamond-sized orange in his hand with a hand that never closes round the air](https://aboutplacejournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/when-im-cold-Salas-Rivera-compact.jpg)
Raquel Salas-Rivera has published poetry and essays in anthologies and journals such as Los rostros de la Hidra, Cachaperismos, Tonguas, En la Orilla, Arsempi, Claridad, Quaint, #gorgonpoetics, and La Revista del ICP. Her first book, Caneca de anhelos turbios (2011), was published by Editora Educación Emergente. Half of her books are still at her mother’s house in San Juan. Half of everything she does is still in Puerto Rico. You can find out more about her work at www.raquelsalasrivera.co.
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