Mariano Blatt gives the title to the second part of the audiovisual cycle Before all of this was countryside at the Belmonte Gallery in Madrid: God is my friend this neighborhood is my boyfriend, from his poem Kevin.
I close and open a reading encounter with Mariano Blatt, who leads us through the journey that brings an end to this cycle, with others’ memories that we make our own to understand ourselves collectively.
“(…) ten fifteen the sun is my friend
the grass grows the clouds move
a god is born it rains in the village
I see Kevin against a fence
I talk to god he tells me go on like this go on like that
god is my friend this neighborhood is my boyfriend
a dirt road embraces me this morning
I come back dragging the motorcycle Kevin laughs at me
we are friends I like his hair
he turns two blocks before
I turn two blocks after
thanks for the shoes he says to me
thanks for your hair I tell him.”
Kevin, Mariano Blatt
Cierro y abro (I close and open). Repetitions, intonations, rhythms.. Cierro y abro (I close and open). We arrive in my neighborhood, your neighborhood. There are flowers. We approach the tree and fall. We fall into a trench so deep that it takes us back home. Cierro y abro (I close and open).
Mariano Blatt (Buenos Aires, 1983) is a poet and editor. He has published books such as Mi juventud unida, Increíble y Alguna vez pensé esto, 200 ideas de libros, among others. He co-directs two publishing houses: Blatt & Ríos and De Parado.
