Poems

There are cemeteries that are lonely,graves full of bones that do not make a sound,the heart moving through a tunnel,in it darkness, darkness, darkness,like a shipwreck we die going into ourselves,as though we were drowning inside our hearts,as though we lived falling out of the skin into the soul. And there are corpses,feet made of … Read more

La callese llenó de tomates,mediodia,verano,la luzse parteen dosmitadesde tomate,correpor las callesel jugo.En diciembrese desatael tomate,invadelas cocinas,entra por los almuerzos,se sientareposadoen los aparadores,entre los vasos,las matequilleras,los saleros azules.Tieneluz propia,majestad benigna.Debemos, por desgracia,asesinarlo:se hundeel cuchilloen su pulpa viviente,es una rojaviscera,un solfresco,profundo,inagotable,lle na las ensaladasde Chile,se casa alegrementecon la clara cebolla,y para celebrarlose dejacaeraceite,hijoesencial del olivo,sobre sus hemisferios … Read more

Among the market greens,a bulletfrom the oceandepths,a swimming projectile, I saw you,dead. All around youwere lettuces,sea foamof the earth,carrots,grapes,butof the oceantruth,of the unknown,of theunfathomableshadow, the depthsof the sea,the abyss,only you had survived,a pitch-black, varnishedwitnessto deepest night. Only you, well-aimeddark bulletfrom the abyss,mangledat one tip,but constantlyreborn,at anchor in the current,winged finswindmillingin the swiftflightof themarineshadow,a mourning arrow,dart … Read more

With chaste heart, and pureeyesI celebrate you, my beauty,restraining my bloodso that the linesurges and followsyour contour,and you bed yourself in my verse,as in woodland, or wave-spume:earth’s perfume,sea’s music. Nakedly beautiful,whether it is your feet, archingat a primal touchof sound or breeze,or your ears,tiny spiral shellsfrom the splendour of America’s oceans.Your breasts also,of equal fullness, … Read more

Now Let’s look for birds! The tall iron branches in the forest, The dense fertility on the ground. The world is wet. A dewdrop or raindrop shines, a diminutive star among the leaves. The morning time mother earth is cool. The air is like a river which shakes the silence. It smells of rosemary, of … Read more

Things get broken at home like they were pushed by an invisible, deliberate smasher. It’s not my hands or yours It wasn’t the girls with their hard fingernails or the motion of the planet. It wasn’t anything or anybody It wasn’t the wind It wasn’t the orange-colored noontime Or night over the earth It wasn’t … Read more

Every morning you wait,clothes, over a chair,to fill yourself withmy vanity, my love,my hope, my body.Barelyrisen from sleep,I relinquish the water,enter your sleeves,my legs look forthe hollows of your legs,and so embracedby your indefatigable faithfulnessI rise, to tread the grass,enter poetry,consider through the windows,the things,the men, the women,the deeds and the fightsgo on forming me,go … Read more

America, from a grainof maize you grewto crownwith spacious landsthe ocean foam.A grain of maize was your geography.From the graina green lance rose,was covered with gold,to grace the heightsof Peru with its yellow tassels. But, poet, lethistory rest in its shroud;praise with your lyrethe grain in its granaries:sing to the simple maize in the kitchen. … Read more

Mara Mori brought mea pair of sockswhich she knitted herselfwith her sheepherder’s hands,two socks as soft as rabbits.I slipped my feet into themas if they were two casesknitted with threads of twilight and goatskin,Violent socks,my feet were two fish made of wool,two long sharkssea blue, shot throughby one golden thread,two immense blackbirds,two cannons,my feet were … Read more

Sadness, scarabwith seven crippled feet,spiderweb egg,scramble-brained rat,bitch’s skeleton:No entry here.Don’t come in.Go away.Go backsouth with your umbrella,go backnorth with your serpent’s teeth.A poet lives here.No sadness maycross this threshold.Through these windowscomes the breath of the world,fresh red roses,flags embroidered withthe victories of the people.No.No entry.Flapyour bat’s wings,I will trample the feathersthat fall from your mantle,I … Read more