La Boca Buenos Aires, ooAmericaS 3

Creative writing and travel writing from La Boca in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the city’s art’s district. Part 3 of ooAmericas, Journey through South America.

Dec 13-14

Dance the tango in La Boca

Dance till it takes your breath away

Tap your heels and curl your toes

till your feet are one with the ground

Till they slide effortlessly upon the Earth

As waves sway to the tremor of the seabed below

Dance till the flames swirl around you,

You, impish and angelic

Wrought together in a deadly dance

Grasping at each other’s waist,

Clutching each other’s nape of the neck

Eyes locked in a timeless ceremonial

Of dance, performance, wild and unwavering Truth

Dance the tango in La Boca,

when you step off the old streetcar’s tracks

Take a turn off the main road

And follow the cobblestones into the arts quarter

Soon you will see the roses rise above the hunched buildings

Leaning over to peer into the main street

Salsicha and charred meats’ fumes

Rising to the colonnades of the artists’ balconies

Glasses of beer clinked and alive, frothy

An icy refuge to the afternoon heat

Shouts of kids playing futbol as they run around the dry cement

Hues golden and pink and fluorescent green, neon rage

Painted against the backdrop of the grey cobblestones

Inside the studios, an alcove with a mattress

Lit by the lulling rays of the sun,

A half-opened window onto the courtyard and the sky

The painter adds the last brushstrokes

to his latest masterspiece, washes his hands

Waits, a few more endless minutes,

And takes the canvas out to the balcony

To watch the paint’s gleam

Holding it victoriously over La Boca,

As the awed rumor of the street is heard below

Outside, a statue, vulnerable and contorted,

Gazes evenly at the ever renewed scenery

A local prankster, or a good Samaritan,

Has donned it with bright orange flower necklaces

While the stray dogs sniff the grass that grows through the cracks of the street

Watch your back says the almighty guide followed by the trembling un-adventurers

I too need to break in to the fervor

Of La Boca La Boca

For more from La Boca Buenos Aires and Argentina, view all the travel stories, videos, photos and writing from Argentina on Rolling Coconut’s travel section.

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