Federico Avalos is an Argentine poet.
But he does not write the words. He recites them.
He walks the white sands, weaving through the sunbathing crowd that lays near the turquoise waters of the Atacama ocean.
“Would you like to roll the literary dice?” Federico asks.
He wears a large smile, behind a salt and pepper beard, a brimmed hat and a blue flowered shirt.
He holds a large homemade die in his hand, numbers written on all sides.
He hands it to a little girl who laughs and tosses it into the air. It lands on the number 6.
He opens a book with a black and white cover. The drawing of a silhouette of people marching. The words “Nunca Mas,” “Never Again,” written across it.
He begins:
“If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating…
These are the opening lines to Rudyard Kipling’s “If,” a poem about believing and hope. And making the impossible into reality.
It is cliche, but time stands still. The seagulls stop crying. The lapping of the water at the shore ceases. A boy kicks a soccer ball and it’s frozen in midair. The laughter from a group nearby pauses.
All that is left are the words. And the images and ideas painted by Federico’s rich, deep voice.
Federico’s arms move to the cadence of each line, as though he’s reciting to a crowd of thousands on a Victorian stage somewhere long ago, and far away.
This is both Federico’s job and his activism. A theatrical intervention. A temporal break from the digital monotony: The selfies, the tweets, the posts, the likes, the comments and the follows.
This is Federico’s resistance. Standing up to the cyber mayhem.
Breathing art into the void. Magic. Reflection.
“I didn’t used to read much poetry,” he says. “I had a hard time. I was too distracted. In poetry, you can’t be thinking about something else. It needs your undivided attention.”
“That’s what I like about it,” he says.
Not every poet is right for this occasion. Federico carries a book of poems by Jorge Luis Borges. But Borges is too heady. Too intellectual. Too hard to decipher under the hot sun after a glass, or two, of Chilean Pisco Sour, or while building a sand castle with your daughter.
Uruguayan great Mario Benedetti is more palatable. But there are so many. Ruben Dario, Pablo Neruda, James Joyce, Joao Pessoa.
Federico’s repertoire shifts like the tides. Rising and falling. Growing and changing. He’s adding a collection of women authors.
Federico used to work in education. That was before his family planned a road trip, and the car broke down in another country, far from home. And they ran out of money to fix it. And now, they’re camped on the edge of town and he had to find a way to survive and he began reciting poems.
“I don’t usually have that many good ideas,” he says, tossing his die in the air. “This was one of them.”
“Would you like to roll the literary dice?” He asks.
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Thanks for listening. I’m your host, Michael Fox.
This is episode 21 of Stories of Resistance, a new podcast series co-produced by The Real News and Global Exchange. Each week, I bring you stories of resistance and hope like this. Inspiration for dark times.
April is National Poetry Month, in the United States. I am taking advantage of it to feature three stories of resistance about poets and authors this week.
If you like what you hear, please subscribe, like, share, comment or leave a review. You can support my work and find exclusive pictures and background information on my Patreon: patreon.com/mfox.
As always, thanks for listening. See you next time.
This is episode 21 of Stories of Resistance — a podcast co-produced by The Real News and Global Exchange. Independent investigative journalism, supported by Global Exchange’s Human Rights in Action program. Each week, we’ll bring you stories of resistance like this. Inspiration for dark times.
April is poetry month in the United States. We are taking advantage to feature three stories about poetry and writing this week. This is the second of those three.
If you like what you hear, please subscribe, like, share, comment, or leave a review. You can also follow Michael’s reporting and support at www.patreon.com/mfox.
Written and produced by Michael Fox.
This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Michael Fox.