The Jaguar as Powerful Myth and Extinct Legend
Both Quiroga and Ak’abal join a long tradition of artists and writers fascinated by the figure of the jaguar, which has been present for millennia in the cultures of Central America. Consequently, in the poetry of that region, the feline figures prominently. Like Ak’abal, the celebrated Nicaraguan poet Pablo Antonio Cuadra (1912–2002) authored a poetry collection devoted to that mythical animal: El jaguar y la luna (1959). Two poems in Cuadra’s volume directly reference the jaguar: “Mitología del jaguar” and “Vaso con jaguar para el brindis.” “Mitología del jaguar” is a creation story:
La lluvia, la más antigua creatura
– anterior a las estrellas – dijo:
“Hágase el musgo sensitivo y viviente.”
Y se hizo su piel; mas
el rayo, golpeó su pedernal y dijo:
“Agréguese la zarpa.” Y fue la uña
con su crueldad envainada en la caricia.
“Tenga – dijo el viento entonces,
silabeando en su ocarina – el ritmo
habitual de la brisa.”
Y echó a andar
como la armonía, como la medida
que los dioses anticiparon a la danza.
Pero el fuego miró aquello y lo detuvo:
Fue al lugar donde el “sí” y el “no” se dividieron
– donde bifurcó su lengua la serpiente –
y dijo: “Sea su piel de sombra y claridad.”
Y fue su reino de muerte, indistinto
y ciego.
Mas los hombres rieron. “Loca”
llamaron a la opresora dualidad
cuando unió al crimen el Azar.
Ya no la Necesidad con su adusta ley
(no la luna devorada por la tierra para nutrir sus hambrientas noches
o el débil alimentando con su sangre la gloria del fuerte),
sino el Misterio regulando el exterminio. La fortuna,
el Sino vendando a la Justicia –” ¡dioses!” –
gritaron los rebeldes – “leeremos en los astros
la oculta norma del Destino”.
Y escuchó el relámpago el clamor desde su insomne
palidez,’ –” ¡Ay del hombre!” – dijo
y encendió en las cuencas
vacías del Jaguar
la atroz proximidad de un astro. (Cuadra 1974: 12, 14)
The poem portrays the various inanimate forces of nature (rain, wind, fire, and lightning) as well as allegorical notions (necessity, mystery, and destiny) as coming together to create the jaguar. The linguistic formulation of the act of creation recalls not only the book of Genesis, but also many creation myths (for example, “Hágase el musgo sensitivo y viviente” [Cuadra 1974: 12]). Each one of the various forces endows the feline with unique characteristics, including, as in Ak’abal’s poem, the jaguar’s distinctive light and dark spotted skin: “sea su piel de sombra y claridad” (14). The poem brings out the contrasting elements that render the jaguar both beautiful and dangerously powerful: referring to the claws, for instance, Cuadra writes “su crueldad envainada en la caricia” (12). The many references to the ambiguous nature of the jaguar (“el lugar donde el ‘sí’ y el ‘no’ se dividieron” and “donde bifurcó su lengua la serpiente” [14]) bring out a duality that ultimately is a threat to man, placing humans, who mock this dual nature, in mortal danger: “Y fue su reino de muerte, indistinto / y ciego” (14). Ultimately, the jaguar’s “opresora dualidad,” that unites both crime and necessity, is denounced by humans to the forces of nature; yet human hubris challenging the jaguar and proclaiming they will read “en los astros / la oculta norma del Destino” backfires (14). Rendering him an even more dangerous foe, lightning grants the eyes of the jaguar the brightness of stars: “encendió en las cuencas / vacías del jaguar / la atroz proximidad de un astro” (14).
“Mitología del jaguar” is a highly symbolic, at times obscure poem that draws on traditional Indigenous sources (the parallel with Ak’abal proves that). The jaguar is somewhat humanized, and both human and animal perspectives are present, though not necessarily as in tonalismo and perspectivism. Still, the poem problematizes the human-animal divide while also subtly hinting at more contemporary understandings of the potential ecological conflict between humans and nature. This conflict, and ultimately the jaguar’s demise, is made more palpable in “Vaso con jaguar para el brindis.” This poignant short poem portrays not the glorious myth of the jaguar as a potential predator that might threaten humans, but rather its very opposite:
¡Puso en el barro su marca hostil
pero armoniosa
y yo con cieno y sangre
repito sobre el ánfora
la zarpa!
¡Tal un racimo de cólera
apretado sobre la tierra
para el vino del ebrio azar
que tu muerte celebra! (Cuadra 1974: 33)
The first sentence portrays the poet as a potter, reproducing the jaguar’s paw print on the surface of his own earthen drinking vessel. The jaguar’s danger and beauty duality (“su marca hostil / pero armoniosa”) is highlighted, as in the previous poem. But the last four lines undercut that sense of power: “[r]acimo de cólera / apretado sobre la tierra” is a beautiful visual metaphor for the shape of the jaguar’s pawprint on the ground (the word “cólera” perhaps also suggesting taking a swipe at the human). The word “racimo” (grape bunch) in turn alludes to the wine that the vessel is meant to hold. The wine, though, is one of “ebrio azar” and is drunk not to health, but to death. The power of the jaguar is tragically diminished here. In the image of a paw forcefully stamped on the earth, the human speaker points to the irony of the celebration – the jaguar-ornamented cup used in a toast celebrates not the jaguar’s might, but his death, the dominion of man over animal. Cuadra recognizes this mythical animal whose symbol must be invoked while also acknowledging his tragically legendary status: a creature whose fate is extinction.