Ariel Glaria’s Diary

Butterflies in My Life

I owe the almost sensual pleasure I have for butterflies to my childhood stamp-collecting hobby. Back then…

Cuba in a Matchbox

Prometheus, god of fire, grant me light. I’m not asking for something as volatile as lighter fluid. I ask only for a simple box of matches.

A Short Memoir of Crisis

I was completely aware of the crisis that began in Cuba after the USSR collaped one morning in 1991. I was 21 and had just finished my military service.

The Poems of My Colleague Irina Pino

There are books that always stay in the same place when you bring them home. However, there are other books which are always in different spots, as if they move by themselves. De los escalones para abajo, Irina Pino’s book of poems, is one of these books.

What Doesn’t Entertain Young People?

This happened when I’d just finished my military service and I didn’t want to be alone. I was 21 years old, I was independent at last and I was convinced that I could have anything I wanted.

Is There Anything More Real Than a Kiss?  

Out of the toughest problems a writer might face, none of them seemed as hard as the simple act of writing one word after another, in K’s eyes at least. Everything boils down to this, he thought.

How I Managed to Stop Smoking

The following events happened when I had exhausted every other resource I had to stop smoking, so I locked myself in jail.