Image: Unsplash, downloaded https://unsplash.com/photos/jLELb2YQEXY (12.6.2021.)
ψ
Strange as it may seem, the multiverse doesn’t scare me, though.
As I learned back in the flickering penumbra of the
pizza parlor arcade where I played Pac-Man, Galaga,
Dig Dug, Donkey Kong, Frogger, Super Tank, Space Invaders,
Jungle King, Pole Position, Asteroids, and Centipede
(OK, you got me – I was really into videogames),
we are continuously submerged in relativity.
An awareness of this state is what lies inert behind
all of our technology, behind every glowing screen.
Although rather like what are known as “divine principles”,
no one really wants to question how things work, we just want
them to work. We are constantly taking this leap of faith,
every time we flip a switch or press a button to turn
something on, even though we can’t explain why it exists.
Which is why players can die within a scenario
as many times as they have to, yet live out extra lives.
As long as there’s a stack of quarters, there’s no game over.
About the Author: Tanya Huntington is a bi-national author and artist who resides in Mexico City. She is Managing Editor of the digital magazine Literal: Latin American voices. Her most recent books are Vidas sin fronteras (Alfaguara Infantil, 2019) as an illustrator and Solastalgia (Almadía, 2018) as a poet. She holds a Ph.D. in Latin American literature from the University of Maryland at College Park, where she studied under José Emilio Pacheco, and currently teaches Poetry and Design at CENTRO. She received a membership grant from the National System of Creative Artists of the National Fund for Culture and the Arts (FONCA) for the 2018-2021 cycle. Her articles, poems, photographs and art have been published in Comment Is Free for The Guardian, the Laberinto section of the newspaper Milenio, the Cultura section of La Razón, and the magazines Casa del Tiempo, Cold Mountain Review, Desbandada, df, Diario de Cuba, Este País, La Gaceta del FCE, Hoja por hoja, Letras Libres, Metrópolis, National Geographic Traveler, Nexos, Otros diálogos, Periódico de Poesía, Sin Embargo and Transtierros, among others.
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