by María Gómez Lara (Author), Curtis Bauer (Translator)
One fine day, "on the screen, an X-ray of your brain / they show you a perfectly defined heart-shaped stain / an indeterminate lesion in the left frontal lobe / the neurologists don't recognize it / possible low-grade tumor / and the world suddenly falls to the floor, you collapse."
The story told in El lugar de las palabras begins there. It continues with "hospital needles, my arms battered / they can't find my veins anymore." The doctor reassures her ("there's no need to worry, you'll recover") and also distresses her ("There's a chance / that you might lose / your words"). The fear of losing words: "... my words / I never thought they were / in danger / that one day I might / not find them / words always came / to rescue me." "I'm so scared / I don't know where to put it."
