Acerina Cruz's work, titled Fuera de lugar (díptico del oasis) (Out of Place (Oasis Diptych)), moves away from nostalgia for the past or solastalgia, a term describing the longing for a lost landscape. Instead, the author adopts an ironic perspective on the effects of tourism, presenting it as a driver of progress that has redefined Canarian idiosyncrasy.
According to the poet, tourism has become so deeply integrated into the lives of Canarians that it has even modified language. Local terms like “choni” have been replaced by “guiri,” a Catalan-origin word now used throughout Spain to refer to foreign tourists. This phenomenon not only alters the landscape but also influences local customs and speech, highlighting the omnipresence of foreign elements.
After so much time/ taking off the mask/ is like pulling down your panties. (…) We look at the other to see ourselves / reflected in their sunglasses. / We don't look for pupils. / (…) The fashion returns/ of defecating in swimming pools. /Tourists return / and Irish pubs reopen, /bideless bathrooms, concerts, / laboratories / and mouse traps. /Hooligans return to dance/ around burning trash.
Acerina Cruz does not blame the tourist but describes a reality that has transformed the islands and their inhabitants. The author uses irony to point out how the market imposes euphemisms, such as billing a death as an “unforeseen departure,” or how tour operators and online agencies push for offers and price reductions, while staff eat the clients' leftovers.
Only the beer stocker / continued to carry paradise on his back.
The poet also reflects on the tourist's perception, who only takes postcards and photos, leaving time behind. Natives, in this context, become invisible to the visitor, dedicated to cleaning, cooking, and serving. Acerina Cruz's work, which includes poems dedicated to her childhood in hotels, suggests that the happiness of that time lay in innocence and unawareness of the implications of what was happening around her.
