Infância - by
Meu pai montava a cavalo, ia para o campo.
/ Minha mãe ficava sentada cosendo.
/ Meu irmão pequeno dormia.
/ Eu sozinho menino entre mangueiras
/ lia…
South American poetry
Lazybones - by
In Chile now, cherries are dancing,
/ the dark, secretive girls are singing,
/ and in guitars, water is shining.
/
/ The sun is touching every…
Encounter with Freedom - by
Like an enormous wave
/ that lies down over my heart.
/ Like the stunning beauty
/ of the wind over the pines.
/ Like an immense, vital…
The Yellow House - by
The house
/ yellow
/ windows everywhere without panes
/ pure…
“Soy hombre…” - by
Soy hombre, he nacido, tengo piel y esperanza.
/ Yo exijo, por lo tanto, que me dejen usarlas.
/ No soy dios: soy un…
So Much for Mañana - by
After twenty years in the mainland
/ Mother’s gone back to the Island
/ to let her skin
/ melt from her bones
/ under her native sun.
/ She…
The Weathercock of the Cathedral at Quito - by
The cock on the weathervane
/ Cannot flap his wings
/ Even though today is a feast.
/
/ The sun spreads his great yellow
/ Carpet in the…
La Casa - by
a mia padre
/
/ Esta es la casa. Las ventanas abiertas
/ dejan caer la luz y una frágil
/ penumbra se esconde en los rincones.
/ Suaves…
In Fields of Sleepdreaming - by
The pack of wild colts went smoking by,
/ muzzles ferocious, hides hirsute,
/ manes swept out stiff, bold, like thick staves;
/ they came through…
Heat - by
Tropical mid-day. Indolence.
/ The reddish nudity
/ of the plowed field
/ begs the coconut-tree
/ to wave its palmy fan.
/
/ The creaking wood
/ mimics the cicada.
/ Silence walks on…
When a fish… - by
When a fish
/ screws
/ slimy up
/ out of
/ the long
/ dark
/ river-
/ downness
/ and
/ bubbling
/ says
/ down
/ there
/ blub
/ in the
/ long
/ dark
/ deepness
/ blub
/ there’s
/ an
/ alli-
/ gator
/ blub
/ oh
/ believe
/ that
/ fish.
/ …
Caracas - by
The buildings are so high
/ nothing can be seen now of my childhood.
/ I’ve lost my patio with its lazy clouds
/ where the…