Echoes of Ecuador
A poet’s experience of language and land.
This article was awarded first place in Abroad View's 2009 Writing Contest for the Inspiration category. It was published in Abroad View's fall 2009 magazine.
By Ariel Fox
Can you hear me from here?
Can you hear me from here?
Un acento so clear
For at times I do fear
I have lost my own voice
Dame un beso
Some choclo con queso
In a new, foreign place, Oh
I’ve come here by choice
My skin tan and hair curled
My adventures unfurled
At la mitad of the world
As I straddle the line
Let me tell you of dreams
Of the best fútbol teams
Of the sun’s strongest beams
On these mountains of mine
Feel Amazonia’s power
In the day’s final hour
Then a shower, a shower,
A shower of rain
If I told you of islands
La Costa, the highlands
All touched now by my
hands
Would you think it insane?
There are fears to be lost
And bridges to cross
Tell me what is the cost
once on the other side?
I am proud and I’m scared
For all I have bared
and how much I have cared,
lágrimas I’ve cried
I’m undone, overheated
My funds are depleted
Yet my team’s undefeated
As I lay down my head
That’s bachata I hear
And verbs in my ear
Of a tongue strange and dear
That my mind has been fed
I smell sunscreen and wine
As I swing from a vine
Or jump over the line
Between norte and south
As I draw out new mapas
I chew mote and papas
And picar at the tapas
That fill up my mouth
Tell me just one time more
I still hear the crowd roar
4-3: Liga, final score
As we scream in the stands
Un volcán to the west
El sol on my chest
City sounds as I rest
Sucres in my hands
I’ll return with some scars
With this soil in jars
To broad stripes and bright stars
To begin a new year
For all I will I miss
South American bliss
Just answer me this:
Can you hear me from here?
Ariel Fox is a senior at Cornell University, where she is earning a double major in English and history. She studied abroad with Boston University International Programs (www.bu.edu/abroad) in Quito, Ecuador, during spring 2009.