Material Inflamable. Veinte años extendiendo palabras en voz alta

Prologue

In March 2003, I read my writings in front of an audience for the first time. Twenty years later, I continue to do so. In fact, the backbone of my journey in the world of art is the succession of words that have come together one after another.

But more than twenty years ago, perhaps even more than thirty, I began to chart the path through and with words. Here, you'll find a small handful of this almost infinite mileage.

The compilation I present to you consists of writings born to be recited.

In fact, some, like "te dejo" or "cuña publicitaria," were first spoken and later written down. The bulk of the book was created live. The texts have undergone transformations through the act of presenting them on stage.

Can what you'll find here be called poems? I leave that to your taste and judgment. I still don't know. Paper and the stage are different mediums that require different ways of working with words on them. For my part, after searching for multiple ways to name them, I haven't found any that comes closer. So, for now, I'll stick with poems. If someone comes up with a more fitting term, please let me know for future editions.

What I can say about the texts that make up "Material Inflamable" is that after reciting them or reading them aloud, on one hand, I feel better, and on the other, there's a communicative act with the audience that goes beyond the exchange of information. Something stirs within the group we are, and that movement generates a more pleasant feeling than what existed before starting the recital. So, putting words into action brings about a collective improvement. This is the main reason why I continue to write.

Returning to the selection of the book, I want to mention that the chosen poems are not arranged chronologically (except the last one), and none of them predates 2008. The texts that have earned their place on these pages are those that have found a spot in my repertoire recital after recital, and others to which I have a special fondness. However, I have not included poems that were already in other books or will be in the future.

In this publication, you will find only word groupings without a solid familiar home (Several of the poems have appeared in zines and pamphlets, but never in book format).

Also, when you reach the end, you will find an invitation to invite me: a chronology in statements that will be written by chapters if I receive twenty different invitations from the people who have read the book. I don't think it will make sense now, but when the time comes, it will be well explained.

I hope you enjoy "Material Inflamable" as much as I enjoy writing, reciting, and reading aloud in front of people, animals, various microorganisms, plants, and trees.

Thank you very much for keeping your eyes on these words, always born on the edge of the precipice.

But the prologue is not over yet. It will continue like a vine appearing here and there throughout the publication.

This sentence brings up another question:

Is a prologue that unfolds between the pages of the book still a prologue?...