Llueve en el fosforescente verde matutino
Descubro entre la cibernética tinta negra
Entre un desconocido norte que es mi sur
Palabras entretejidas con miedos
Sentimientos disfrazados de distancia
Muros metálicos dividen dos países
Dos corazones, madres e hijos
Padres y hermanos, pasado y presente
¿Qué nos hace diferentes?
Somos manos que escriben, que trabajan
Limpian y guían en la oscuridad más grande
¿Qué es una frontera? Límites creados
Culturas forzadas a darse la espalda
Llueve en el fosforescente verde matutino
Descubro entre la tinta negra de esta
Pantalla de luz artificial los hombres
Y mujeres sin nombre que apenas
Dejan rastro de su existencia en
Los desiertos. Anónimos seres
Que nunca serán reclamados
Esperan las madres orgullosas a los
Hijos e hijas tragados por la flamígera
Arena del desierto. Rojo atardecer llena
Mi pantalla y la tinta negra empieza a
Sangrar.
It’s raining in the phosphorescent greenness of daybreak
I discover in the cybernetic black ink
In an unknown north that is my south
Words interwoven with fears
Emotions disguised as distance
Metallic walls dividing two nations
Two hearts, mothers and children
Fathers and siblings, past and present
What makes us different?
We are hands that write, that work
Cleaning and guiding in the darkest dark
What is a border? Created limits
Cultures forced to turn their back
It’s raining in the phosphorescent greenness of daybreak
I discover in the black ink of this
Screen of artificial light nameless
Men and women who barely
Leave a trace of their existence in
The deserts. Anonymous beings
Who will never be claimed
Proud mothers awaiting
Sons and daughters swallowed by the scorching
Desert sand. Red twilight fills
My screen and the black ink begins to
Bleed.
~ by Xánath Caraza
Translated by Sandra Kingery
Xánath Caraza teaches at the University of Missouri Kansas City and presents readings and workshops in Europe, Latin America, and the U.S. Her most recent book is Ocelocíhuatl. Her book of poetry, Sílabas de viento / Syllables of Wind received the 2015 International Book Award for Poetry. It also received Honorable Mention for Best Book of Poetry in Spanish in the 2015 International Latino Book Awards. Her book of verse Conjuro and book of short fiction Lo que trae la marea / What the Tide Brings have won national and international recognition. Caraza is a writer for La Bloga and she writes the “US Latino Poets en español” column.
Sandra Kingery, Professor of Spanish at Lycoming College, has translated Ana María Moix, René Vázquez Díaz, Liliana Colanzi, Federico Guzmán Rubio, and Kepa Murua.
Tyler Sheldon earned his MA in English at Emporia State University, where he taught English Composition and received the 2016 Charles E. Walton Graduate Essay Award. His poems and reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in Coal City Review, The Dos Passos Review, Flint Hills Review, I-70 Review, Quiddity International Literary Journal, Thorny Locust, and other journals. Sheldon is a two-time AWP Intro Journals Award nominee, and has appeared on Kansas Public Radio.
The Coop: A Poetry Cooperative 