Beatriz Santiago Muñoz brings together various forms of non-linear thinking and simultaneous temporalities that challenge traditional ways of reading with El cuervo, la fosa, y la yegua (The Raven, the Pit and the Mare). Taking as her model a method of Sanskrit poetry that tells two stories in the same text at the same time, Santiago Muñoz explores acts of simultaneous narration to juxtapose images and sounds from seemingly disconnected universes. For instance, a madeleine is both a pastry and an idea; language is historical and abstract; in the “historical now,” there is a plastic cup and a robotic arm at the bottom of the ocean. Each day, a mare visits a junkyard near an overgrown forest and tries to mate with a Corvette. A traditional Haitian proverb states: the snake can only be measured once it’s dead. Consider things you can’t see but know are real—the bottom of the Puerto Rico Trench, the Marassa Jumeaux, our attachments to past orders.
