Stories are essential

The stories our parents tell us about who we are are the stories we tell ourselves. It is what we use as base of our development and beliefs. I remember a poem my dad used to read to me called "La Luna" or "The Moon" by Jaime Sabines. He would recite this by memory whenever I was restless and it was time for bed. I remember that it would always calm me down. It left me thinking, wondering, dreaming. And as I heard his voice I would lay on my side and look through my window at the starry night trying to find the moon in between the mountains. The poem went like this: 

La luna

La luna se puede tomar a cucharadas
o como una cápsula cada dos horas.
Es buena como hipnótico y sedante
y también alivia
a los que se han intoxicado de filosofía
Un pedazo de luna en el bolsillo
es el mejor amuleto que la pata de conejo:
sirve para encontrar a quien se ama,
y para alejar a los médicos y las clínicas.
Se puede dar de postre a los niños
cuando no se han dormido,
y unas gotas de luna en los ojos de los ancianos
ayudan a bien morir

Pon una hoja tierna de la luna
debajo de tu almohada
y mirarás lo que quieras ver.
Lleva siempre un frasquito del aire de la luna
para cuando te ahogues,
y dale la llave de la luna
a los presos y a los desencantados.
Para los condenados a muerte
y para los condenados a vida
no hay mejor estimulante que la luna
en dosis precisas y controladas

The Moon

You can take the moon by the spoonful
or in capsules every two hours.
It’s useful as a hypnotic and sedative
and besides it relieves
those who have had too much philosophy.
A piece of moon in your purse
works better than a rabbit’s foot.
Helps you find a lover
or get rich without anyone knowing,
and it staves off doctors and clinics.
You can give it to children like candy
when they’ve not gone to sleep,
and a few drops of moon in the eyes of the old
helps them to die in peace.

Put a new leaf of moon
under your pillow
and you’ll see what you want to.
Always carry a little bottle of air of the moon
to keep you from drowning.
Give the key to the moon
to prisoners and the disappointed.
For those who are sentenced to death
and for those who are sentenced to life
there is no better tonic than the moon
in precise and regular doses.

It talks about the grandiose powers the moon can posses over us humans. The power to give peace, health, and happiness. This is the story i remember most vividly from my childhood. When I hear it, it takes me back home. So i decided that my plot was going to have a reference to it. I derived power from the moon, tying in perfectly with the magic realism genre. Now I need to figure out my story.




 McWeeny, Drew. "40 Films That Manage to Get Magical Realism Right Where ‘Winter’s Tale’ Failed." UPROXX. UPROXX, 14 Feb. 2014. Web. "Jaime Sabines-The Moon." Jaime Sabines. Casa Poema, n.d. Web. Apr. 2017.