Shumpall
The moons open over the boat
of the celebrations.
White is the boy in the circle
whom it takes back to tears
and the innocence of seeing himself repeated
in his mother’s eyes.
He knows there are three rainbows
that flow through my blood.
He knows and he repeats it with the swell of his waves.
For him I open this sea.
That his horses
might pass through the salt
and he might not drown.
White,
transparent,
is the boy who turns ten times
in a circle to the left.
He repeats the same movement
and I in ecstasy
begin to bite him in four tongues.
And there are three rainbows he knows of me.
And there are four colors inside.
And he knows all by sign
by dream arrived and repeated.
Prediction of moons falling on the pillows
of the boy crossed by the fishes.
From Shumpall (2011; 2018)
I am going to burn this city
its houses
I am going to slowly burn your hairs
so you don’t forget the wound
My wound
the dagger you tried to kill me with so many times
I am going to burn your face
the faces in which you looked at your desire
The words you could never touch me with will burn like plastic dolls
I am going to burn this city
your footsteps
every tree will be flames
I will burn my own hands and eyes
the dress
will fall in pieces from my dark body
and will not hurt me
I will not complain
because the city (your city) will burn with me
From the unpublished book Dentro de ti hay un asesino que me gusta [Inside you there’s a murderer I like]
I SINNER
I confess that I have stolen the soul from Christ’s heart,
that I stabbed a flower in the back
and I shot a stork.
I confess
that I ate all the apples
and I sighed three times
when the moon caught fire.
That I lied to innocence
and struck tenderness.
I confess that I have lusted after my neighbors
and that I have impure thoughts
about a saint.
I confess that I sold myself for money.
That I am not myself
and that I have sinned in thought
word and omission.
I confess that I have no regrets.
From Tentaciones de Eva [Temptations of Eve] (2003)
Curated and selected by Paula Miranda and Andrea Vargas
Translated by Arthur Dixon
