Thursday, February 6, 2014

Two Poems

Language (María do Cebreiro) (my trans.)

(First Stanza)

Writing a poem is like catching a bird.
Like casting a net.

(Second Stanza)

But tell me: who can hunt a bird
with no air for its wings?
And the river fish,
how do they drown?

(Third Stanza)

What do they call themselves?
And I thought of fish, of birds.

[From Os hemisferios]



81 (Berta Dávila) (my trans.)

To hold down beauty with trembling hands, 

like pressing a pin
into a butterfly.


That is poetry:
to hold down beauty perhaps to put it on display 

held by pins on specimen cards. 

[From Raíz da fenda]

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