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Janneth spent most of her life in Spain where she acquired legal citizenship. Her soul belongs there but the economic crisis forced her to leave. Following others, she headed for the UK, to start as a migrant (once) again. Throughout her life, she learned and mastered how to break social barriers. The English language though has been particularly challenging. She keeps trying different strategies but the real problem is not of strategy but of time, work takes much of hers. During her first years here, she found strength on the idea of an eventual going back. Recently, however, something has changed. She now realises that with every year that passes the distance between Spain and Janneth increases. It feels as though the idea of returning is fading away. It is not a sad feeling but a confusing one. Is it resignation or adaptation?
Ernestina de Champourcin was a prominent Spanish poet member of the acclaimed Generation 27. Although of an aristocratic background, she was a declared republican. Forced by the Spanish civil war, she and her husband moved to Mexico where they spent sixteen years. Only after her husband died, she was allowed to go back. Contrary to her hopes, she found a broken unrecognisable country and felt as a migrant (once) again. Arriving to Spain was not arriving home anymore. She then decided to write ‘Orizaba’ a poem who resembles her arrival to Mexico. The piece captures with a vivid melancholy the migrant’s initial encounter with the unknown. 'The last exile' tries to portray this feeling of always arriving and somehow never going back. |