The Intima Channel | Conversation with Mario de la Cruz about " Translate"

 

TRANSLATE


This is everything I wanted to say

It’s all of the words I never could have said

When I lost the ability to speak clearly,

You did it for me

Found you accidentally,

Something I thought was hidden from me

Pieces of a puzzle that never quite fit,

There was more to the picture even though I couldn’t see it yet



Narrate to Translate

Explicate the meaning according to me

Extricate the meaning from the experience

It was all there in the text

The letters that once stood apart (on their own)

Joined together to form little battalions

Stringing together creating an army of knowledge

Expressing the authenticity of me

In the clearest way I ever could have hoped to be seen



For once my reflection was exactly who I thought I was

Because I wasn’t looking in the mirror anymore

It was on the page

And now I had the chance to recreate

The memories of what I could never speak about before

Opening the door to see my own reality

Unafraid and unfiltered but mediated

Creating an opportunity to see things from a new perspective



Being understood was a new experience

Working my way from the inside out

Instead of always waiting for the outside to be able to define this

Autonomous

Taking back my power and using my words to decipher the hidden codes in my silence

Making space for the new dialogue that needed to be said

Pulled forth from my heart and my head

Spilling my abstract emotions into the physical

Spitting out the truth right from the initial

Leaving drops behind to trace back the path to pieces of my reality

By those who are ready to receive me



Let it marinate

From on the skin into the flesh

Penetrate deeper through the tissue

Into the bone

Passing through cell walls

Until it originates in the DNA

Bonded and unseen by the naked eye

But ever present, just like the soul

When word and feeling become one

In a marriage orchestrated by authenticity

And presided over by empathy



More than simple interpretation of imagination

This is a process which is not always easy to digest

But the discomfort is outweighed by the benefits

Because the freedom associated in speaking aloud with

Newfound confidence,

With better understanding of one’s experience

Is worth more than the fear of losing anonymity

The key is creating a net of support and safety

That respects the veracity of speech with integrity



(Now I’m)

Finding new purpose for words that at first Narrate

Then go beyond simple use to Articulate

Becoming building blocks to Advocate

And now have the power and responsibility to Translate

From my lips to your ears,

From my thoughts to your thoughts,

My interior to your exterior

And reflecting back into me again

Bringing our worlds closer into each other

Where they meet and coexist

Retaining their uniqueness

But now utilizing common language

Sharing lenses

Lending themselves to being seen as they are

Without pretense or boundaries



Do you hear me now?

Do you see me now?

Do you feel me now?

And if you still can’t grasp my meaning use what’s left of your senses

To breathe me in

And taste my essence,

Sweet like sincerity

With a hint of hope,

A dash of individuality

And a pinch of possibility

Once you’ve taken it all in

We start again.



-mdlc 2011