Alchemy of poetic words. Poem # 19/ Alquimia de palabras poéticas. Poema # 19

May 12, 2026

AREA: Poetry

Poem # 19 / Poema # 19

Título original / Original title:

Trompa-bulario (parte 3) / Trunk-bulary (part-3)

Introduction

(Feel free to skip Introduction if you’ve read previous poems in this serie).

As I’ve mentioned before, this series — Alchemy of Poetic Words / Alquimia de Palabras Poéticas — is a project I began in 2013. It’s a quiet collection of poems born from memory, emotion, and fleeting moments, carefully gathered over the years in my notebooks. Back then, I dreamed of turning them into a book, each paired with original illustrations by Salvador Jaramillo, a gifted designer and colleague from Mexico.

Here we are with another poem

If you feel curiosity to read the Poem #18 you can read it here:

https://medium.com/%40aljif7/alchemy-of-poetic-words-poem-18-alquimia-de-palabras-po%C3%A9ticas-poema-18-ec3a52083414

I am doing the experiment this time with the help of AI to generate an image for this poem number 19 (at the end, in number 18, I didn’t use AI, some screenshots were enough. It looks like my idea of Trump-bulary makes easy to find images of those popular expressions). This is the third Trumk-bulary (Trompa-bulario) playing with words in popular expressions, fragments of songs and …..

Here we are with poem #19. As I have mentioned, it took me several weeks to figure out how best to present it in this format. The challenge lay in a section I’ve titled “Trunk-bulary” (or “Trompa-bulario” in Spanish), which consists of mini-sentences and fleeting phrases I captured in the moment. I wanted to rework them with a distinct Mexican cultural flavor.

And by the way, the ideas I get about to develop this kind of mini-expressions in an extended format are going to accumulating in my notes. It makes me define much better the idea of playing with meaning of cultural expressions in a short enuntiation as a kind of words. Well, the idea is there walking.

I faced a dilemma: sharing them one by one would feel too slight for a post, but posting all ten at once might overwhelm the rhythm and dilute the playful intent of the words. This last part for the first idea of Trump-bulary made me to revisit the song Paloma and to listen sevral times. I confese it moves me something inside.

So, I named a set of words around Paloma (dove) as Flying words. But the following group of words also are a continuation of the song.

Rather than overexplain, here are the first three of ten mini-expressions from the series:

Spanish Version

Trompa-bulario (Continuación: 8, 9, and 10 de 10 mini-expresiones de la sección Trompa-bulario)

8. Palabras voladoras

“Cucurrucucúuuu, cucurrucucúuuu Paloma

Cucurrucucúuuuuuu no llores”’

Caprura de pantalla del autor

9. Palabras que duelen (continuando la misma canción):

¡Ay ay ay aaaayaaay cantabaaaa!

¡Ay ay ay aaaayaaay gemíaaaaa!

¡Ay ay ay aaaayaaay cantabaaaa!

¡De pasión mortaaaal moríaaaa!

(…)

¡Ay ay ay aaaayaaay, Paloma, ya no me dejes!:

Captura de pantalla del autor

10. Palabras nostálgicas:

México lindo y querido

si muero lejos de ti

que digan que estoy dormido …

Captura de pantalla del autor

(8, 9, y 10 mini-expresiones de 10 de la sección Trompa-bulario , y más por venir)

English Version

8. Soaring Words

(Evoking “Cucurrucucú Paloma”)

“Coo-roo-coo-coo, coo-roo-coo-coo, my Dove,

Coo-roo-coo-coo, oh, do not weep.”

Screenshot by author

9. Aching Words

(Continuing the same song)

“Ay, ay, ay, aaaaay, she used to sing!

Ay, ay, ay, aaaaay, she used to moan!

Ay, ay, ay, aaaaay, she used to sing!

Of mortal passion, she was dying!

(…)

Ay, ay, ay, aaaaay, my Dove, do not leave me now!”

Screenshot by author

10. Yearning Words

(Evoking “México Lindo y Querido”)

“Beautiful, beloved Mexico,

If I should die far away from you,

Let them say that I am only asleep…”

Screnshot by author

(8, 9, and 10 mini-expressions out of 10 from Trunk-bulary section, and more to come)

The Experiment

As I have mentioned before — I am surprised with the result from AI for the illustration, I was expecting to get something not related with the idea of these mini-poems, as I was after no more illustrations. The AI applied till Poem 16, I didn’t feel I needed it for the section of Trompa-bulario: Poem 17, 18 and 19. As it is about popular expressions, there are always something over google, thanks to google for the help.

The challenge in this post was how to organise my 10 mini-expressions grouped in a section I called Trompa-bulario. It recalls the moments when I did the compilation of them from different notebooks . Now, out of Mexico it sound as a fresh way to be there, to retake the songs and to listen once and once and once.

I am still thinking about the experiment of selling a version with no images. I am getting the idea to sell my +50 poems in Spanish without illustrations. I have adavanced in a review with AI and it gives me a good organisation of the content. That helped me to decide how to group the mini-expressions for this post.

For now, my mini-expressios for the section Trompa-bulario is finished. But it gave me the seed to continue writing expression with the same idea of playing with the ‘kind’ of words according to the evocation.

Blessing reading for everyone — and for holding space for these small, searching into a dream!