The writer and researcher Mario Castells says of Dream Pattering Soles, “Many words in avañe’ẽ [Guaraní] are micro-units of mythic narratives, ancient bridges that link Paraguayan society to their Guaraní ancestors.” Cadogan began his compilation when he realized that the phrase “jasyra’ýnteko ojovaheihína” references both reality and myth. Its literal English translation, “the new moon is washing its face,” alludes to “The Myth of the Twins: Genesis of the Sun and the Moon.” Its metaphoric English translation, “torrential rain,” alludes to the fact that heavy rainfall and the first lunar phase usually coincide. This phrase is a metaphor for a metonymy because the moon stands in for the rain, while their relationship renders them parts of a whole, the natural world and Mbyá Guaraní cosmology.

MIGUELÁNGEL MEZA is a Guaraní poet and cultural promoter born in Caacupé in 1955. He has contributed to numerous anthropological and linguistic research studies, as well as translations, and worked for the National Ministry of Culture of Paraguay. His books include Ita ha’eñoso, Perurima rapykuere, and Perurima pypore. He is the founder of the cartonera press Mburukujarami Kartonéra, with which he has published numerous titles authored by him and others.