spain – Page 33 – don't confuse the narrator

perspective

So much depends

on whether it was
a red wheelbarrow
or an orange cementmixer

on whether it was
glazed with rain water
or shaded
from the setting sun

on whether there were
several white chickens
or just the one, escaped
from the neighbour’s yard

on whether it was
early twentieth century
industrial America
or rural Spain in 2012

on whether it was
William Carlos Williams
who saw the scene
or me.

For the chicken in question,
much more depends
on whether my cats find her
before the neighbour does.

black & white

You know how some people don’t seem to have any doubts about things? They seem to see the world in black and white.

Or do they?

Although those grapes are destined to be eaten unfermented, I have an idea that seeing the world in shades of wine might improve it.
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tiger, tiger

I thought circuses with exotic animals had been banned.

It seems I must be mistaken, though, as this poor beast was sitting in the heat of the afternoon in a tiny cage just outside the village bull ring today.

There were several other white tigers, two ‘normal’ tan tigers and a lion, in other cages. Most of them were fast asleep, which is hardly surprising given the fact the sun was shining directly onto the metal trailers.

I suppose it will be a bit cooler this evening, when they perform, but I won’t be going to watch.
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colour me nostalgic

Looking through the paints at the art shop the other day, I had to check the names closely as the plastic bottles made it hard to tell precisely which colour paint they might hold.

I found a ‘burnt sienna’, but the closest to ‘crimson lake’ was ‘berry wine’, and there was no ‘Prussian blue’ or ‘ochre’. I definitely think my childhood was the richer for having the old names – I don’t think I’d have liked to paint with ‘glazed carrot’ or ‘pumpkin’.

I was a bit taken aback, though, to find both the bottles in the photo labelled as “plaid”.

Having decided that they were actually black and white, I consulted the Scottish Register of Tartans, but still haven’t worked out which clan they might belong to.

the RAE gets a round tuit

I’ve never really understood what the “urgente” refers to in the title of the “Manual de Español Urgente”. If it was a quick guide, surely it would be manual urgente? So, under what circumstances would we be writing “urgent Spanish” and need to check whether we had the details right?

That said, La Fundación del Español Urgente (Fundéu BBVA), have brought out a new Spanish language guide which was launched yesterday, with the title “Escribir en internet: guía para los nuevos medios y las redes sociales”.
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