Poems

The weary one, orphanof the masses, the self,the crushed one, the one made of concrete,the one without a country in crowded restaurants,he who wanted to go far away, always farther away,didn’t know what to do there, whether he wantedor didn’t want to leave or remain on the island,the hesitant one, the hybrid, entangled in himself,had … Read more

Lost in the forest, I broke off a dark twigand lifted its whisper to my thirsty lips:maybe it was the voice of the rain crying,a cracked bell, or a torn heart. Something from far off it seemeddeep and secret to me, hidden by the earth,a shout muffled by huge autumns,by the moist half-open darkness of … Read more

Ocean, if you were to give, a measure, a ferment, a fruitof your gifts and destructions, into my hand,I would choose your far-off repose, your contour of steel,your vigilant spaces of air and darkness,and the power of your white tongue,that shatters and overthrows columns,breaking them down to your proper purity. Not the final breaker, heavy … Read more

Tie your heart at night to mine, love,and both will defeat the darknesslike twin drums beating in the forestagainst the heavy wall of wet leaves. Night crossing: black coal of dreamthat cuts the thread of earthly orbswith the punctuality of a headlong trainthat pulls cold stone and shadow endlessly. Love, because of it, tie me … Read more

Tonight I can write the saddest lines. Write, for example, ‘The night is starryand the stars are blue and shiver in the distance.’ The night wind revolves in the sky and sings. Tonight I can write the saddest lines.I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too. Through nights like this one I held her … Read more

Tonight I can write the saddest lines. Write, for example,’The night is shatteredand the blue stars shiver in the distance.’ The night wind revolves in the sky and sings. Tonight I can write the saddest lines.I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too. Through nights like this one I held her in my armsI … Read more

O tower of light, sad beautythat magnified necklaces and statues in the sea,calcareous eye, insignia of the vast waters, cryof the mourning petrel, tooth of the sea, wifeof the Oceanian wind, O separate rosefrom the long stem of the trampled bushthat the depths, converted into archipelago,O natural star, green diadem,alone in your lonesome dynasty,still unattainable, … Read more

Three triangles of birds crossed Over the enormous ocean which extended In winter like a green beast. Everything just lay there, the silence, The unfolding gray, the heavy light Of space, some land now and then. Over everything there was passing A flight And another flight Of dark birds, winter bodies Trembling triangles Whose wings, … Read more

It so happens I am sick of being a man.And it happens that I walk into tailorshops and movie housesdried up, waterproof, like a swan made of feltsteering my way in a water of wombs and ashes. The smell of barbershops makes me break into hoarse sobs.The only thing I want is to lie still … Read more

(Original Spanish; can someone provide the title?) Sucede que me canso de ser hombre.Sucede que entro en las sastrerías y en los cinesmarchito, impenetrable, como un cisne de fieltroNavegando en un agua de origen y ceniza. El olor de las peluquerías me hace llorar a gritos.Sólo quiero un descanso de piedras o de lana,sólo quiero … Read more