Selma and I stand beside a statue of the poet Carlos Edmundo de Ory in the Alameda Apodaca y del Marqués de Comillas. Statues of other poets and writers are scattered around this landscaped walkway in the historic center of Cádiz. It runs parallel to the sea and the city wall from east to west that begins at the walls of San Carlos and ends between the Baluarte de la Candelaria and the church of Carmen.

We walk around the port section of Cádiz until we reach the Cathedral of the Americas, where a Roma woman creates bubbles from chains. We pay to enter the cathedral and visit the crypts and then walk all the way to the top of the tower, from where we can see both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.

The sunshine, the bubbles, the cathedral, and the history of Càdiz inspire me. And in From Cádiz to Málaga I pay homage to Gloria Fuentes, Carlos Edmundo de Ory, Federico Garcia Lorca, and Allen Ginsberg. All these poets are connected through time, space, and words.

From Cádiz to Málaga

By Anniqua Rana

A new moon

Lingers in the evening sky

Stealing light from behind

The Cathedral of The Americas

Awaiting our arrival

While we choose the scenic route

To Carlos Edmundo

Who waves at doves

Splashing

At the fountain

In the garden of Càdiz

The burning sun celebrates afternoon crows

As bubbles burst midair

Born from chains of pleasure

In the Mediterranean

In the Atlantic

In the Americas

In Spain

In Africa

El mar conoce mi paso

Words are energy.

He says

Not the wind giants

Blowing us all the way

back

home

Across the Sierra de Cádiz

To the Montes de Málaga

The opposite of open poetry is propaganda.

He continues

Exhaling mold from crypts, memories of tourists crawl

And then rush

Pulling children

Up to the gelataria

For cono de helado

Sipping cerveza, Gloria glances around.

I’ll tell you, she says,

how Eloisa Muro,

fourth mistress of Cervantes,

was the author of Don Quixote.

Ginsberg knowingly nods

We are

He says

Sin permiso de ser ángeles

Carlos Edmundo de Ory and Allen Ginsberg

Carlos Edmundo de Ory’s role in Spain is similar to that of Allen Ginsberg‘s and the Beat poet’s in the United States: Spanish poetry evolved to include new language and imagery. Ginsberg with Edith Grossman translated some of Ory’s poetry and titled it Angel Without a Permit.

Create Cultural Memories through Literature and Art

Poetry by Federico Garcia Lorca that inspired me.