miércoles, 4 de febrero de 2026

FEBRUARY 15TH: THE DAY OF SMOOTH SURFACES

Inhabitants of bewilderment:

On February 15th, «Sueño con grandes superficies lisas» will be released. I began writing this collection in 2018. Since then, the words have mutated.

When you visit the Las15Letras Editorial website on the 15th, you will not just find a book. You will find 21 videos. Call them video-poems, if you require a label to make sense of it.

Today, I am sharing a fragment of the genesis: one of the poems in its original form. Black signs on white. A line of insects —or monkeys— crawling across the paper.

This is LITERACCIÓN. This is LAS15LETRAS. This is DEJA DE INSULTAR AL MONO. Enjoy.

Two monkeys walking, visual artwork by Max Nitrofoska for the video poetry collection «I DREAM OF LARGE SMOOTH SURFACES».
Image: Max Nitrofoska
Click to enlarge

STOP INSULTING THE MONKEY

I step aside.

I hide.

I lean.

I sniffle.

I look in the mirror

and I hear myself whisper

that maybe that face in the distance

is mine.

Once again.

In this circus, there is no shortage of mirror games.

Stop insulting the monkey,

he has as many hands as you

and maybe he still has a brilliant idea left,

even now.

He was baptized in your same parish,

maybe he laughs at the same stupid jokes

you laugh at

on weekends.

He’s a spiteful monkey.

He’s a one-eyed, decadent monkey,

that much is obvious.

At some point he offers you a riddle,

this monkey.

He asks you: «Green on the outside, what’s inside?»

and leaves you stranded in a labyrinth

you don’t just not know how to exit,

you don’t have a remote clue

how you even got there.

And then you curse the monkey’s ancestors

and all the she-monkeys

you enjoyed in the dark.

God, they smelled, those bitches.

Maybe this is the trick,

you think,

maybe by closing your eyes,

in the dark,

without a single clue about the steps you take,

without knowing a fucking thing about anything,

maybe that way you manage to escape

the macaque’s maze.

Because the monkey

represents great wisdom, in China.

And you tell yourself that for wisdom,

you’d take a good swig of gin,

a shot of gin in the throat and you’re flying, whoosh...

You’d clear the labyrinth walls for sure,

but from above,

through the sky,

where the gods roam.

And if anyone can help you in this serious mess,

it has to be a God.

Or a Goddess, mind you,

so better

start flying as soon as possible.

I sniffle,

I look in the mirror

and I hear myself whisper

that maybe that face in the distance

is mine.

Once again.

Go on, move,

in this circus there is no shortage of mirror games.

Stop insulting the monkey,

he has as many hands as you

and maybe he still has a brilliant idea left,

after all.

Stop insulting the monkey.

© Max Nitrofoska

LAS15LETRAS.com

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