Zoological garden of clouds
I’ve got to sing to the cloud overhead:
Here’s to you, tender teddy bear, your lover
kisses another cottony cloud,
and when you bite it, the cloud disperses.
And there’s the snake that chased me
in my dreams, this one: and then there’s a pink heron
coming from the river,
and the gutted whale blubbered.
And there is the striped cat a hand
strangled because it was mammoth and scruffy
and made scandals rise from rooftops.
And my shaggy dog sitting
on his hind legs grows gargantuan and
fills every castle corner, deranging the wind.
Jardin zoologico de nubes
Quiero cantar al que se mueve arriba:
salud, osito tierno, tu señora
se besa con el otro algodonada
y cuando el diente clavas, se deshace.
Y la serpiente que me perseguia
en los sueños, está y hay una garza
rosada que se viene desde el rio
y la ballena destripada llora.
Y está el gato listado que una mano
mató porque era grande y poco pulcro
y en el tejado escandalos alzaba.
Y mi perro lanudo que se sienta
en las traseras patas y se expande
en un castillo que trastorna el viento.
A pencil
For ten cents I bought it on the corner
and a gangly angel sold it to me;
whenever I tried to sharpen it,
I saw it as a small and strong cannon.
The lead which exploded ideas broke,
and once again the sad angel blunted the point.
I left with it and with a face like a bronze mask
erased it from memory. Distracted
I threw it in my bag among handkerchiefs, letters,
parched flowers, lipsticks,
bills, ballots, and nougats.
I was going to I don’t know where and violently
a vehicle slammed into me, shaking up my bag
with its bomb inside.
Un lápiz
Por diez centavos lo compré en la esquina
y vendiómelo un ángel desgarbado;
cuando a sacarle punta lo ponía
lo vi como un cañón pequeño y fuerte.
Saltó la mina que estallaba ideas
y otra vez despuntolo el ángel triste.
Salí con él y un rostro de alto bronce
lo arrió de mi memoria. Distraída
lo eché en el bolso entre pañuelos, cartas,
resecas flores, tubos colorantes,
billetes, papeletas y turrones.
Iba hacia no sé dónde y con violencia
me alzó cualquier vehículo, y golpeando
iba mi bolso con su bomba adentro.
STERILITY TIME
Numbers gazed at the woman
And left a chest in her lap:
And she spotted a red river flowing from it
spiraling round the world.
Strange signs, almost unreadable,
gave shade to its river banks
and the sinister moon sketched on them
ordered the time of the tides.
Because of the river flooding she was a creator
and the cold numbers revealed
frightened eyes in warm faces.
One day the river escaped from her chest
and her green island crowded with men
emptied while the wind gusted.
TIEMPO DE ESTERILIDAD
A la mujer los números miraron
y dejáronle un cofre en su regazo:
y vio salir de aquél un río rojo
que daba vueltas en espiral al mundo.
Extraños signos, casi indescifrables,
sombreaban sus riberas, y la luna
siniestramente dibujada en ellos,
ordenaba los tiempos de marea.
Por sus crecidas ella fue creadora
y los números fríos revelados
en tibias caras de espantados ojos.
Un día de su seno huyóse el río
y su isla verde florecida de hombres
quedó desierta y vio crecer el viento.
ALFONSINA STORNI (1892-1938) was a major South American poet also known for her feminist essays and theater. Her seven books of poetry published during her lifetime were written in traditional as well as experimental forms. Her poems are in the public domain.
NORMAN WEINSTEIN is the author of six poetry books, a book on Gertrude Stein’s writing, and a jazz history.
CELIA GIL LLAMAS is an educator and independent scholar working in Mallorca.
VELIBOR BACO was born 1985 in Bosnia. The writer studied law in Salzburg, Austria. Currently living in Vienna, Austria he paints abstracts and writes German and English poetry and prose and creates abstract paintings, digital art, and music.