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Exploring Mexican identity and the human soul through Marlene Pasini's poetry [1]
['Paloma Cuevas']
Date: 2024-11-16
To talk about Marlene Pasini is to talk about a Mexican woman and all that that implies: colour, beauty, sensitivity, intensity, and culture.
In fact, I imagine Marlene Pasini's feet to be like a beautiful map where all stories and all paths are drawn. She has eyes that reveal one of those souls who has seen everything without ever losing the capacity for wonder.
Renaissance woman par excellence, Pasini has developed diverse interests to which she has dedicated her passion and intelligence. She is a communicologist, a writer, a poet, an editor, a visual artist, and a psychotherapist and coach in Transpersonal Education. If that wasn't enough, she has continued her studies, obtaining a Master's degree in Literature and a diploma in Renaissance History, Egyptology, and hieroglyphics. She is the author of eighteen books: poetry, novels, essays, articles, and books on personal and spiritual development.
The publication of her most recent book called “Memorias de Aquí” (Memories of Here) is, as the author mentions, part of a series of poetry books that she has produced on the theme of her life and experience as a traveller, poet and artist. This text is a testimony to her commitment to the mystical and spiritual experience, in which she includes clear references to each of the places she has visited — places that have visited her at the same time. This relationship has left indelible marks on her memory, which she shares with us, in the most sublime way: through poetry.
It is interesting how, at a certain point in life, it becomes necessary to leave a testimony of the path undertaken, and this reminiscence of experiences began with “Memorias Nómadas del Medio Oriente al Norte de África” (Nomadic Memoirs from the Middle East to North Africa). This is the first publication in this series, which was published in 2021 — in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic — and which was the result of the author's travels to the Holy Land, Tunisia, Morocco, and Egypt, with poems written over several years that were illustrated by some of the poet's own paintings. Later, in the year 2023, “Memorias de Andalucía” (Memories of Andalusia) was produced, and through brief, Japanese-style texts like haikus and tankas, the author immerses the reader in the experience of visiting Spain.
“Memorias de aquí” was published in August 2024. Its structure contains four autobiographical sections, but with clear reasons for their division.
The first part is titled: De las memorias del alma (From the memories of the soul), and is made up of poems that allude to Pasini's memories, as well as her personal experiences, which give an account of an inner voice that reflects on life and the passing of time. In them, one can appreciate nostalgia, longing, dreams, the personal connection with nature and its presence in the journey that is life.
The word I would use to define this part of the work is melancholy, and as an example:
LLUVIA Nada es silencio… Aquí en esta ciudad llega el verano y una música de lluvia empapa sus calles de asfalto En el instante y su tiempo fugitivo en la incertidumbre del más allá donde la vida aletea como negra mariposa en el hueco del insomnio donde los recuerdos se ovillan en sombra enmudecida desciendo despacio en un largo sueño.
RAIN Nothing is silent… Here in this city summer arrives and a musical rain soaks its asphalt streets In the moment and it's fleeting time in the uncertainty of the beyond where life flutters like a black butterfly in the hollow of insomnia where memories coil in muted shadow I descend slowly into a lengthy dream.
It is from the journey through melancholy that we reach Caminos citadinos y Pueblos Mágicos de México (City Roads and Magical Towns of Mexico). In this chapter, the poet shares some of the cities and towns that she has visited throughout her life and that are somehow significant, not for their touristic qualities, but for their historic and ancestral nature, as a part of Pasini's “Mexicanness,” and for the strategic connection with her soul.
FLAMBOYANES Rojo estallido el follaje de los flamboyanes una tarde de mayo Una brizna suave del viento corta erizadas alas de pájaros en vuelo Incandescente sol como una ofrenda su luz contra pieles color moreno Cuernavaca ciudad de la eterna primavera hondura de suspiros en sus haciendas tardes de nostalgia y el eco de los siglos.
FLAME TREES
Red burst the foliage of the flame trees an afternoon in May A soft breeze of wind cuts the ruffled wings of birds in flight Incandescent sun like an offering its light against dark skin Cuernavaca city of eternal spring depth of sighs in its haciendas afternoons of nostalgia and the echo of the centuries.
Atavismos, is the word that gives its name to the third section, which represents a symbolism that resonates with the idea of Ancestry. It runs between mysticism and a reunion with the ancestral Mexican past.
MUJER INDÍGENA EN TEPOZTLÁN Borda sueños de magia con sus manos en múltiples colores hila toda una vida sobre su nívea tela Con una sonrisa apenas perfilada en su boca finge que no hay sufrimiento ante este pueblo rodeado por el gran cerro del Tepozteco Su rostro moreno — arrugado y trenzas de color azabache están cenizos por las polvaredas que dejan los caminos tierra suelta olvido hambre Envuelta en rebozo gris y coloridas enaguas ha quedado en sus manos olores de hierba y hongos lo amarillo de la flor recogidos al alba.
INDIGENOUS WOMAN IN TEPOZTLÁN She embroiders dreams of magic with her hands in multi-colours she weaves a whole life on her snowy fabric with the trace of a smile on her mouth she pretends there is no suffering before this town surrounded by the great Tepozteco mountain Her dark face – wrinkled and braids jet-black are ashy from the dust-clouds left by the roads loose earth forgetfulness hunger Wrapped in a grey shawl and colourful petticoats on her hands remains the smell of grass and mushrooms the yellow of the flower collected at dawn.
The last section of this work belongs to Sombras luminosas (Luminous shadows); poetic allusions to people, beings and characters that are not found in the physical world, but whose presence is still a reality through time.
Here is a small fragment of the poem ¿Qué lazos nos unen y desunen? (What ties unite and separate us?):
A mi padre In memoriam Materia en sustancia de luz eterna Memoria silencio casa habitada en sueños con una oración levantada al cielo de la Gloria formas diluyéndose en viento.
To my father In memoriam Matter in substance of eternal light Memory silence house inhabited in dreams with a prayer raised to the heaven of Glory forms dissolving into wind.
My recommendation is, of course, to enjoy the leap of faith that it takes to go along with the words of a writer who has decided to revel in this poetic work that clearly shows the ability to understand that geography and time are conventions, and that beauty lives in the untouchable space of every human being: the spirit and that intangible essence.
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https://globalvoices.org/2024/11/16/exploring-mexican-identity-and-the-human-soul-through-marlene-pasinis-poetry/
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