AREA: Poetry
Poem # 15/ Poema # 15
Título original / Original title:
¿Llevas dinero? / Do you bring money?
Introduction
(Feel free to skip Introduction if you’ve read previous poems in the series).
As I’ve mentioned before, this series — Alchemy of Poetic Words / Alquimia de Palabras Poéticas — is a project I began in 2013. It’s a quiet collection of poems born from memory, emotion, and fleeting moments, carefully gathered over the years in my notebooks. Back then, I dreamed of turning them into a book, each paired with original illustrations by Salvador Jaramillo, a gifted designer and colleague from Mexico. Salvador illustrated works by Indigenous writers, and his art carries a deep, poetic connection to Mexican culture.
Here with another poem
If you feel curiosity to read the Poem #14 you can read it in my recent posts: @aljif7/alchemy-of-poetic-words-14-alquimia-de-palabras-poticas-14-3jr
Salvador design’s are ended after 7 Poems. Then, I am doing the experiment this time with the help of AI to generate an image for this poem number 13. In this one I wanted to play with words and makes an evocation of colors about abstract concepts.
Therefore, here we are with poem #15. This one was really nice to recall that image from my son. It is really surprising how children can react to support us as adults and we almost not realise their effort. I feel something deep. Now he is a young man, just 19 y.o.
*Spanish Version
_ ¿Llevas dinero…?
Hoy se enfermó Alejandro. De repente vomitó y le dio temperatura.
Me asustó, y pensé que tendríamos que ir a consulta. Pero ya me iba a trabajar.
Su madre compró un jarabe para calmarlo un poco (con la magia de madre).
Cuando me iba, Alejandro me dijo:
–¿Llevas dinero… para que no te enojes?
(Y me dio unas monedas…)
Me hizo reír su tierna preocupación, en medio de su temperatura y su voz quebradiza por su malestar.
(Image generated with qwen.ai, prompt by autor)
*English Version
— Do you bring money…?
Alejandro fell ill today. Suddenly, he vomited and developed a fever.
I was frightened and thought we might need to go see a doctor — but I was already on my way to work.
His mother bought him some syrup to soothe him a little (with that magic only mothers have).
As I was leaving, Alejandro asked me,
–Do you bring money… so you won’t get angry?
(And he gave me some coins…)
His tender concern made me laugh, even as he spoke with a feverish, fragile voice weakened by his discomfort.
**The Experiment
**
As I have mentionned before— I am surprised with the result from AI for the illustration, I was expecting to get something not related with the idea of this mini-poem, as I was after no more illustrations. And specially in this Poem #14 where it should show up the feeling of concern while sick.
For a free version of A.I. is not bad the result. Well, maybe later I can check with better tools something much more expressive. In the meantime, I am doing my best to retake my poems and share them here. The challenge sometimes is to keep the same feeling from Spanish to English. At the same time it is a good exercise for me to improve my foreign language.
Thank you for reading — and for holding space for these small dream with your support and encouragement!