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
