Marvelous Reality by Margarita Engle

Lo real maravilloso was Alejo Carpentier's

name for daily life in a tropical land.

Translation turned the phrase

into a shape-shifter, wandering

between surrealism and fantasy -

magic realism - the wonders

of places still undiscovered,

or uninvented.

We have our choice now.

The landscapes are varied.

We are free to roam between

real marvels of the rain forests,

birthplace of madness and music,

and magical isms of the imagination,

homeland of myths and dreams.

The flight back and forth is perilous.

Writers are advised to travel light, forgetting all

that has ever been known.

About the Author:
Margarita Engle is a botanist and the Cuban–American author of three books about the island...read more.

Copyright © 2007 by Margarita Engle. This poem may not be reproduced in any form without the author's express written permission.