DREAMS AND LIESOF
FRANCO~
Pablo Picasso
fandango of lettuces pickled fish of swords of cuttlefish of ill-
omen dishrag of hairs of tonsures standing in the middle of the frying-
pan in balls on the wafer of the sherbet of the fried codfish in the
mange of his heart of ox-his belly full of the jelly of bedbugs of his
words-little bells of the plate of snails braiding intestines-little finger
in erection neither grape nor fig-comedia dell' arte of clouds ill-
stained and woven-products of beauty of the manure cart-rape of
the ladies-in-waiting in tears and big tears-at the shoulder the coffin
stuffed with sausages and mouths-rage twisting the design of the
shadow that whips the teeth nailed in the sand and the horse wide
open to the sun that reads him to the flies that baste the knots of
the net full of anchovies the rocket of lilies-lantern of lice where the
dog is knot of rats and lurking place of the palace of old rags-the
flags that fry in the pan writhe in the black of the sauce of the
spilled ink in the drops of blood that shoot-the street climbs to the
clouds tied by the feet to the sea of wax that rots its entrails and the
veil that covers it sings and dances mad with grief-the flight of
fishpoles and
alhigui alhigui
of the first class burial of the moving-
truck-the broken wings rolling over the cobwebs of the dry bread
and clear water of the soup of sugar and velvet that paints the crack
of the whip on his cheeks-the light hides its eyes before the mirror
that makes the monkey and the piece of nougat of the flames that bite
the lips of his wound-cries of children cries of women cries of birds
cries of flowers cries of timbers and stones cries of bricks cries of
furniture of beds of chairs of curtains of pans of cats and papers cries
of odors that claw themselves cries of stinging smoke in the neck of
the cries that cook in the cauldron and of the rain of birds that flood
the sea that gnaws the bone and breaks its teeth biting the cotton that
the sun gleans in the plate that the stock-exchange and the pocket
hide in the imprint that the foot leaves in the rock.
*
So far as is known, this prose poem translated from the Spanish
and the etchings that follow, are Picasso's first examples of politically-
inspired art. Expressions of his antipathy for the fascists in the present
Spanish conflict, the etchings are part of a series that depicts General
Franco in the guise of Don Quixote and other symbols of the old Spain.
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