And/or to Live to Tell It

Abstract

Before Mocha Island, 2 but at an incalculable distance, one not only geographical but also mythical—if the (Greek) words mythos (“word”) and poiema (“poem,” “forge”) still invoke something to be said—at the mouth of the Imperial River, with Puerto Saavedra upstream, you tell me the story of how your story nearly prevents you from telling me your story.

Lorenzo Aillapán, üñumche (“birdman”) and Mapuche poet, was born in Rukatraro, near Lake Budi, Chile. In 1994, he received the Casa de las Américas Prize.