BLIND WOMAN
By Agustin Cadena, Translated by C.M. Mayo
(Bordersenses, Fall 2015)
With its fingernails, shadow
peeled away reality.
Like a doll's skin,
the world, the other world,
came apart.
Only this which is true
remained visible.
She seems to contemplate something and, maybe,
with her soul, she does contemplate.
In the sky of her eyes
the wind of desire stirs,
blurs these clouds of hers.
> For those of you read Spanish, check out Cadena's blog El vino y la hiel.
> Plus: read my translation of his short story "Lady of the Seas" in my anthology Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion.
> Extra plus plus: my dear amiga Patricia Dubrava also translates Cadena. Check out her blog post about him here.
Agustín Cadena is one of Mexico's literary treasures. I am very proud to say that he is also my translator (of my most recent book, and others), and his translation of my essay "A Visit to Swan House" appears in this month's issue of Letras Libres. (More about that anon.)
> Listen in anytime to my reading of another translation of one of Cadena's poems, "Café San Martin," from Sarah Cortez's anthology, Goodbye Mexico, here.
> An age ago, BorderSenses published one of my wiggier poems, "Man High," which you can read online here. (Nope, it's not about dope.)
> More about my translations of Mexican poetry and fiction of Agustín Cadena, Mónica Lavín, Araceli Ardón, Rose Mary Salum and Ignacio Solares, among others, here.
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| [Fall 2015 issue of BorderSenses] |
Well, I may be slower than a tortoise on a glacier with "Marfa Mondays," the 24 podcast series apropos of my book in-progress, but I am moving forward with podcast #21, which goes to Bracketville, Texas (a scooch east of the Pecos) and is about one of the most unusual communities anywhere, and its unique association whose members have worked to preserve stories of the ancestors, stories that have no more apt adjective than Biblical. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, listen in here anytime to the other 20 podcasts posted to date.
(University of Texas El Paso Centennial Lecture 2015)
> Your comments are always welcome. Write to me here.
