ON SHOUTING AND ITS REASONS

We shout because song is not enough someone sang and they joined with those who shout with laughter and tears and rhythm

We shout to friends greeting them with a hand that’s open and pink and chafed

We also shout at the cat who jumped up on the table for it to get off of there and bat around its paws or knead our legs

At the trees, so tall that they don’t seem to notice when someone walks by and trips over their roots.

The drunks shout because in moments of faceless delirium they like how they sound and they sing loudly from the depths of their raspy chests

We shout at children to put down the pebble they were about to throw and finally go shower

At deaf fish beneath the water

At those whose chests overflow their shirts until one breath is enough to fill up los pulmones y reviente los botones de tanto palpitar y de tanto reírse

A las viejas que de tanta vida y tantos ruidos no se cansan y quieren más, más fuerte, más orquesta y fanfarria y pompa

Al diablo con la circunstancia

Al pastel para que se esponje

A las ventanas para que se rompan

A las nubes para que se caigan

Y a Dios para que no escuche

María Folc their lungs until the buttons pop off from so much beating and so much laughter

At the old women who after so much life and so many sounds don’t tire and want more, stronger, more orchestra and more fanfare and pomp

At the devil with the circumstance

At the cake so it rises

At the windows so they break

At the clouds so they fall

And at God so he can’t hear