Origin

Origin

I left my body like someone leaving a burning house. My body was no longer a safe place. Not anymore… 

And suddenly all the birds fell from the sky, in mid-flight, the white ones and the black ones, the big ones and the small ones, those that fly high and those that glide low to the ground… The clouds fall, the sun hides, the moon does not appear... Cars stop, walkers petrify, the roofs of the houses collapse, and, all of a sudden, all the girls burst into flames, the daughters and granddaughters, the sisters and nieces, the cousins and goddaughters… All the girls burning in their homes, their rooms, their beds. In every house, every village, every town flames arise, one after another, flames calling for help... and you hear them and try to scream...

but you are only a girl and girls on fire can not scream….

Loving life

I love life, even if I cry sometimes, even if I am desperate, even if I see shadows in oblivion, banished walkers, empty vessels without fingerprints from where loneliness peeps out.

I love life, its ups and downs, its damp and icy nooks and crannies, its stairs to heaven and also to hell.

I love life, to get up after each fall, surprising me with tiny details ready to slip away instantly and also to reappear in another space and time.

I love life, its smells, its flavors, its changing landscapes, its multicolored eyes and its ivory and charcoal smiles.

I love life, waking up every dawn feeling like a goddess, a being of light with infinite capacities, hands and feet of silver and eyes of hawk.

I love life, not because it is fair, but because it is unique in a world that wants to be too mundane and yet cannot do away with its light and wonder.

I love life, not because it is devoid of suffering, but endowed with endless learning and emotions that like whirlwinds of ice and fire push me forward stumbling again and again and getting up with wounds darned with saliva and scabs of passion.

I love life, because you are in it, and even if you were no longer here, I would love it just the same because you walked through all its rooms, its pavements, its skies and my beds.I love life, because every day brings me the surprise of awakening and the certainty of an amazing beauty, a beauty that without pretending anything is everything.

I love life because even in moments of discouragement I am fascinated by its ability to remain upright and whole, its unwavering charm with which it pounces on my sagging shoulders, my shattered desires, my self among the ashes.

I love life because its tentacles and golden threads are intuited to beyond other times, spaces and dimensions, turning my breath into an eternal return of wonder at the unknown.

I love life because it promised me everything and lied to me about nothing. It promised me to have a body that would allow me to feel the cold in my throat and the warmth in my heart. It promised me intense emotions and cascading experiences. It promised me to love and be loved, to despair and be hoped for, peace and war. It promised me to suffer, to be afraid, to feel despair. It promised me to soothe hearts, to cultivate soil, to sow stars. It promised me loss and hope. It promised me to know love and to feel the mists of oblivion. It promised me fireworks in the middle of August and tribal dances to end fear. It promised to accompany me all this way and to lift me up from the underground with the patience of a mother and the vigor of a father. It promised to introduce me to his sister, death, one feverish night alone in my bed and to make peace with her and her many shadows. It promised me to caress beloved wrinkles and to be touched by fingertips of passion. It promised me the miracle of begetting and seeing my children grow up, to touch wet skies, to travel through time, to search for shadows, to weave spider webs, to find directions, to love tears, to brush against euphoria, to weave friendships, to walk among clouds. It promised me laughter, flavors, knowledge, wisdom and love, endless love. It promised me so many beautiful things without failing me or asking for anything in return.

And what about me? Tell me, my beloved life, what did I give you?

Mothers of the world 

Mothers of the world who create life, who whisper words of love, who care, who heal, who comfort, who stay up late at night and wake up at any hour, who tell stories, who sing lullabies, who calm hearts, who dispel tangled nightmares, who embrace, who kiss foreheads and heal thoughts, who draw patience from the rubble, who remove thorns from the heart, who stop eating so that others can feed themselves, who look for solutions in the darkness, who bind up wounds, who pull out thorns, who walk barefoot, who pay for studies, who promise heaven and bring down the stars, who give dew as a gift, tables decorated with spring flowers, who sew wounds, who are examples, who work, dream and inspire, who laugh loudly and fight fiercely, who carry shopping, who invoke home-scented biscuits, who bewitch monsters, who bake love, who add positive energies and flow with the lunar cycle, who listen, who watch, who gather families, who carry in their arms, who flee from wars to offer better lives and security conquered with courage, who give their lives, who give their souls, who clean auras, who promise and fulfill, who beautify the world, our world, who teach to love and respect and who love, love, love…

Mothers of the world... Thank you…

A good education

Sometimes I don't remember where I hid so much rage 

Being the daughter of a good education

trained

crushed

reduced

I unlearned

to defend myself with my nails

to protect my oxygen with my teeth 

to look straight ahead at the dark reflection 

that spies on me from the heart

I wish

to accept my starving shadow

to know how to set limits without looking back

to attack again and again

and not to let one more pass 

to enjoy - free of labels in my head 

to transform shame into lust 

guilt into moans of pleasure

in the darkness

I seek the man who inhabits me

the tenebrous alchemist 

gleaming gums full of power

now I stop smiling

when deep down I would like to bite

and when I finally unmask the girl 

that I am no more

a silhouette appears…

distant…

                                                     The real woman

What they don’t say…

They say we are enemies

They say your skin is black

and mine

white

They say that you're on the precipice of hell

and that I

deserve eternal heaven

They say that you were born on one side of the great river

and I on the other one

They say you came swimming

stripped of clothes and hope

across the sea

to the land

where I was born

and that this land is ours

only ours

They say that those waters

those of the river and the sea

separate us

separated us

and will separate us forever

because

that's the way things are

and that's the way things will always be

They say

They say

They say many things…

What they don't say is that

you and I

were born from the same water

the water that rocked us

in our mothers' wombs

we drink from the same water

the only and finite water that springs from the earth

and we join our hearts

in the same water

the water that unites two tears

mine and yours

in an eternal embrace

because water

does not understand enemies

water

the only thing it wants

is to flow

to run

and to join

in peace and harmony

• Alexandra Nicod is a Swiss-Spanish poet, playwright, theater director, actress and translator born in Biel,

SHORT BIO

Alexandra Nicod is a Swiss-Spanish poet, playwright, theater director, actress and translator born in Biel,

Switzerland and living in Madrid, Spain. She holds two bachelor's degrees, one in Translation and another one in Dramatic Arts. She has published several collections of poems and is the author of various theater plays performed in theaters in Madrid, Spain. As an actress, she has worked in both theater and film with leading directors. As a poet, she has participated in many international poetry festivals worldwide such as in Morocco, Italy, Spain, Greece, Indonesia, United States, India, Bulgaria, Romania, Kosovo, Albania, Serbia and Mexico. Her poems have been translated into more then fifteen languages, including Chinese, Bengali, Korean, Vietnamese, Turkish, Hungarian, Greek, Arabic, Kurdish, English, Bulgarian, Romanian, Albanian, Serbian and French, and published in numerous international poetry anthologies. She has been awarded with the International Best Poet Price 2024 granted in China by the International Poetry Translation and Research Centre, the Journal of Rendition of International Poetry and the Board of Directors of World Union of Poetry Magazines and she has received the Special Award 2025 of the Pro Poet Festival in Serbia. Currently she is the coordinator of the Microescena CentroCentro, a theater cycle in the public cultural entity located in the emblematic Palacio de Cibeles, the current headquarters of the City Council of Madrid, Spain. She is also a member of the General Society of Authors and Editors (SGAE), the Professional Association of Writers (ACE) and the Actors Union.