Lea Diaz is a poet, artist and an academic. She has painted, played the piano and written poetry and fiction since she was a little girl. Lea has already published two books of poetry, and her poems have been collected in literary journals such as “And Then”, “The Independent Literary Review, “Contemporary Literary Horizon”, “ViceVersa”, Hybrido, among others. She has participated in readings and literary events at McNally Jackson Books, the New York Public Library, the Bowery Poetry Club, the Poetry Project, the Spanish Benevolent Society and the NYC Poetry Festival. Lea is engaged in activism and has presented contributions in conferences and panels, advocating for the role the arts play in democratic systems and developing the notion of “creative democracy”. Lea deeply believes in poetic action, in the transformative nature of Poetry: Poetry can make each of us a better person and, thus, a better world.
Blue Path
I wander in that blue path of your gaze
Like a hypnotised silhouette that falls in your arms
Blue path. Always blue
It heads to a private place that belongs to us
I long for it as much as I avert it
It is the bright day without clouds or concerns
Simply us laying on the yellowy grass in the park
It is the bewitching night as the sparkles of the stars slip through your window
And softly illuminate our entangled bodies
Blue path. Always blue
It is also the storm, the gusts of your absences, the detachment, your fears
That make me stumble. I stagger, I fall apart
And I start over again. I return to the blue labyrinth of your gaze
Absent, oblivious, mesmerised
In a swing of bright days and moments
Of sorrow, silent torture.
Like an invisible drill that does not cease to pierce me
Gradually, subtly
Pendulum life, meaningless
Trapped in your blue pupil
In its irregular, whimsical shine …
I beg you not to close your eyes: I would collapse
I dreamed of you today
I saw your shadow through the pale curtains
Evanescent like a winged angel
Your eyes glittered in the darkness
Calm ocean embracing a mermaid in the close night
You, creature I have long desired
Creature of that other life
Sometimes so real
The story of a nameless woman farming crops of wheat
Now and then
You have lived in me, with me
Fields of immaculate horizons, lonely beaches, deep blue seas
I was waiting for the extraordinary:
For the eternal orchids that blossom in the early snows
For the springs of water that flow in the dessert
Around which an oasis is formed
For your eyes and mine
Staring, unveiling the mystery
Unaware of the rest of the world
I dreamed of you today
And recognized the colours of that other life,
Imagined, fantasized and craved,
Which became so real and true
Once I was with you.
The Lonely Man
His eyes shine like the surface of the sea
On a clear morning
When the sun illuminates the peaceful water
And makes every shade glow with gold
His hair is white
And looks even whiter after the tan skin
That comes from restless walks with the purpose of survival
As the birds seek for fruits, berries, seeds
He is sitting on a bench a bit distant from the people
From the kids in the playground, from local musicians playing drums
His yellow shirt has lost its brightness
The lonely man is smiling all the time
He is carrying some packages
He opens a plastic bag and calls his friends: sss, sss
He throws his heart up in the air. It expands in million particles
A rain of bread and peanuts covers the grey path hiding the dirt
The man is not lonely
The magic creatures of the park,
The squirrels, the doves, the cats
Have come closer and closer
They look at him
As if asking for more grain
They eat gracefully in his hands and gather around him
Circle of Hope, Togetherness
A gift of affection is floating among the branches and the cement
The sparkle of ingenuity unfolds
The tender expression in his lips, generous for the company
For the sharing, for the full conversation without words
The man stands up. He marches slowly
He turns his ashen head to glance at his peculiar community
He keeps smiling. Halo of content
The man finally leaves: he is back again in the realm of childhood.