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Leaf by Circe Maia
(Translated from Spanish by Jesse Lee Kercheval)

July 1, 2015 Contributed By: Circe Maia, Jesse Lee Kercheval

So absolutely unique
(veins, hues). Alone
only itself, alone.

Leaf, a single glance
separates you from the rest and makes you unique.
(Or the glance found you unique . . . were you?)
Were you, before it saw you, you and no one else?

A leaf in the hand
not in the foliage
not in the wind
but rather, here, in this instant
the double light of the sun and eyes
look at you, enfold you
silhouette you, raise you up…
The door to being opens.

You are.

HOJA

Tan absolutamente única
(nervaduras, matices) ella sola
en sólo ella, sola.

Hoja a quien la mirada
te separa del resto y te hace única.
(O te descubre única… ¿lo eras?)
¿Eras, antes de verte, tú y más nadie?

Una hoja en la mano
no en follaje
no en viento
sino aquí, en este instante
la doble luz del sol y de los ojos
que te miran, te envuelven
te recortan, te alzan…
La puerta al ser se abre.

Eres.

Return to table of contents for Issue 9 Summer 2015.

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Filed Under: Translation Posted On: July 1, 2015

Further Reading

M.
by Sofia Ciriello, translated from the Italian by Scott Belluz

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HOW BIG IS MATTHEW? by David Cody

The people closest to Bill Crutchlow seemed to be developing interests and relationships that he never would have foreseen even a year ago, and that ran entirely counter to his aspirations for them. His wife, Mary, an English teacher who had given up her profession to stay home and raise her children, had started selling […]

The Search for Conceptual Writing in Dworkin and Goldsmith’s Against Expression edited by Craig Dworkin and Kenneth Goldsmith
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