We are building a new world on the ashes of the old.

That is the subject of my poem Escombros, originally written in February 2015, entered into this blog on 4 October 2016, and re-posted this morning. Before re-posting, I added translations in Portunhol, Spanish, and French. Just now, on the spur of the moment, I added a further translation: Esperanto.

How shall we do this? It seems to me that certain toxins must not cross the blood-brain barrier of this new world. These include:

patriarchy

capitalism

war

intolerance of diversity

hate


For these we shall substitute:

gender equality and the partnership model

humanistic socialism focused on the common good

peace (which is much more than the absence of war)

respect for all living creatures and the planet

love


What shall we call this new world?

Strangely, I almost have an answer, based on the dream I had last night. The name that I heard sounded like Iffy-quo. Certainly, the concept is "iffy," and fragile. But if, as I suspect, the "-quo" on the the end is actually the Chinese "guo," meaning "country," then some interesting possibilities emerge. At first I considered "yîfú guo," (I'm using a circumflex for a macron), which would mean "clothes country." But, since I'm a naturist, that's the opposite of what I would want my Edenic utopia to be like. So I considered "no-clothes country," which would be something like "méiyou yîfú guo." Indeed, in some remote and long-forgotten past that could have been the original form of the name, later shortened. But finally, I was more persuaded by yî fùguó (more properly yîge fùguó), which would mean "a rich country." For now, I'll just think of it as "Richland."

Indeed, such a place would be rich in the values of a new humanity.