{"id":197984,"date":"2026-01-28T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/errr-magazine.com\/?p=197984"},"modified":"2026-06-09T05:10:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T11:10:43","slug":"competent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/errr-magazine.com\/english\/competente\/","title":{"rendered":"Competent"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Author's note:<\/em>
This poem was conceived and originally written in English. For this reason, I consider its most faithful reading to be in that language. The Spanish translation is intended only as a guide, if needed, and not as an equivalent version.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

We only call it \u201creal\u201d once it\u2019s gone,
once it\u2019s safe enough to caption.
Memory is that museum gift shop
where you get to buy your own life again
in a cheaper material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The past isn\u2019t history, it\u2019s 
a few true details in a trench coat 
pretending to be \u201cit\u201d.
Literature helps\u2014of course it does\u2014
it puts a spotlight on the bruise 
and asks for applause 
for not flinching. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I keep thinking: maybe I\u2019m addicted
to the raw version
the way people are addicted 
to behind-the-scenes footage,
the way a timeline loves a disaster 
as long as it\u2019s formatted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tried to look at myself in the mirror
and see only my eyes, not my backstory,
just the looking. 
And it was almost funny 
how quickly my face started narrating. 
Even my pupils have opinions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writing could be serenity,
or the first step toward it.
But I\u2019m not pigeon enough,
I don\u2019t know how to carry messages 
without chewing them up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For years I lived like a dead woman
my eyes were so empty
people filled them with roles. 

I accepted all kinds of solitude.
I taped over myself so many times 
all that\u2019s left is snow 
void with a clean font, 
madness that arrives politely,
undoing pretending to be clarity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our era is too mediocre 
to survive intensity
everything comes half-done
even grief. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lately common sense
is the only philosophy 
that doesn\u2019t make me feel
like I\u2019m performing depth.

Somewhere between Circe and Ulysses 
I\u2019m listening to a Ralphie Choo track
while Enriquez leaves the door unlatched,
von Trier films sorrow like weather, 
and Aphex Twin makes the future
sound like a nervous system learning to blink. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s coalescence, yes
not meaning, not a thesis
more like: a collective weather\u00a0
moving through individual bodies,
everyone pretending it\u2019s personal
because that\u2019s how we cope.\u00a0

I want to submerge in something else.
An element. I want another element.
Not dog-smell in a shut room, stored things with
soft violence, kept so long they start to keep you.
We don\u2019t lose reality; we stash it
until it learns to stay still\u00a0
and lets us look competent.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photography by Sofia Ron<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sigo pensando: quiz\u00e1 soy adicta a la versi\u00f3n cruda, como quien es adicto a las tomas descartadas, como la cronolog\u00eda lame a ruina si est\u00e1 ordenada. <\/p>","protected":false},"author":7805,"featured_media":198584,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17385],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-197984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing"],"acf":[],"mb":[],"yoast_head":"\nCompetente - ERRR MAGAZINE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/errr-magazine.com\/english\/competent\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Competente - 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