Poetry.

Poems by Enrique Darriba translated from Spanish by Amparo Arróspide

by

(i)
 
Primitive the day when words go miss
without ideas or a single inexpressible
idea to look is to look to settle silhouettes
dancing a small vestige of volume
perfectly contrasted with the fluorescent
rectangular board at the back it ´s the
air that sways light bulbs a small help
however from the black mattress a few
minutes ago my blank head a few
glances ago and it’s already late if the loud
speakers let me open the door if the
spotlights the stones of the façade permit
me a jumble of light and shadow
a thick blob a little sticky turning
when the witch’s stick stirs the blob
in the cauldron stirring and stirring
 
 
(i)
 
 
el día que falten las palabras primitivo
sin ideas o una sola idea inexpresable
mirar es mirar instalarse siluetas que
danzan un pequeño vestigio de volumen
perfectamente contrastadas con el
panel fluorescente rectangular del fondo
es el aire el que cimbrea las bombillas
una pequeña ayuda sin embargo del
colchón negro desde hace unos minutos
mi cabeza en blanco desde hace unas
miradas y ya es tarde si me permiten
los altavoces abrir la puerta si me dejan
los focos las piedras de la fachada amasijo
de luz y sombra espeso un tanto pegajoso
giratorio cuando el palo de la bruja
da vueltas en el pote
al amasijo vueltas y vueltas
 
 
(ii)
 
 
my head remains happily empty
placidity of the cavity the wind at
ease in the interior cavern I cannot
perceive traces clues voices getting
weaker wasting to rise on the tracks
of the torrent train of wheat initiating
incursions in the air right after the
horizon sways confusion of the wheat
of the air the train that passes incisi-
vely through the gust the Boston
strangler sits at my side his cheekbones
his mouth protrude his evil super-
ciliary bones are curved with the light he
places his hands on a folder his suit
his black suit buttons up very high
the strangler has two fierce eyes that
wander from one side to the other of
his spectacles the train vanishes and
the clarity leaves a volume of moment-
ary zenithal hope
whether to order a pair of rimmed spectacles!
 
 
(ii)
 
 
mi cabeza permanece felizmente
vacía la placidez de la oquedad el viento a
sus anchas en el interior cavernario no puedo
percibir rastros indicios voces que pierden
fuerza consunción alzarme sobre las vías
del tren raudal de trigo iniciando incursiones
en el aire justo después cimbrea el horizonte
confusión del trigo del aire el tren que pasa
incisivo por la ráfaga el estrangulador de
boston se sienta a mi lado le sobresalen los
pómulos la boca aviesos los superciliares se
curvan con la luz posa las manos sobre una
carpeta muy arriba le cierra el traje negro el
estrangulador tiene dos ojos fieros que pasean de
un lado a otro de sus gafas desaparece el tren
y la claridad deja un volumen cenital esperanza
momentánea ¡si encargar unas gafas con barrotes!
 
 
 
 

 
 
Enrique Darriba (Madrid, 1965) began as a plastic artist, although he soon oriented his artistic work towards literature. He is the author of the poetry book Geometría básica (Varasek Ediciones, 2017) and the novel Los buenos tiempos (Legados Ediciones, 2019).
 
Enrique Darriba (Madrid, 1965) empezó como artista plástico, aunque pronto derivó su quehacer artístico hacia la literatura. Es autor del libro de poemas Geometría básica (Varasek Ediciones, 2017) y de la novela Los buenos tiempos (Legados Ediciones, 2019).
 

 
Amparo Arrospide (Argentina) is a Spanish poet and translator. She has published seven poetry collections, Mosaicos bajo la hiedra, Alucinación en dos actos algunos poemas, Pañuelos de usar y tirar, Presencia en el Misterio, En el Oido del Viento, Hormigas en Diáspora and Jaccuzzi, as well as poems, short stories and articles on literary and film criticism in anthologies and in both national and foreign magazines.
She has received numerous awards. Editor’s Note: see also Poetry, National Literature Prize 2018, Francisca Aguirre, Translated from Spanish by Amparo Arróspide & Robin Ouzman Hislop
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times ; his publications include
 
All the Babble of the Souk , Cartoon Molecules and Next Arrivals, collected poems, as well as translation of Guadalupe Grande´s La llave de niebla, as Key of Mist and the recently published Tesserae , a translation of Carmen Crespo´s Teselas.
 
You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

Research on the notion of freedom by Alex Z. Salinas

by

On a summer morning,
I waited outside a county prison
to conduct research on the notion of freedom.
A short, bald man exited
the building, I assumed, a free man.
Turned out he was free indeed because I asked him.
“Sir,” I said, “were you just released?”
“Yeah,” answered the little man, “and who the hell wants to know?”
“Nobody,” I said, “just some guy who wants to know what it’s like
to be free.”
He chuckled, then scratched his stubbled chin.
“Is somebody picking you up?” I asked.
“No,” he answered.
“Wherever you go then,” I said, “won’t your legs tire out?
You aren’t used to walking long distance.”
The man looked at me with raccoon eyes, smiled,
then scratched his stubbled chin.
“You know how I got in there, boy?” he said. “With these legs here.
They never failed me ‘cept the once, and once is all they ever
gonna fail me.”
 
“But where will you go? Where will you stay?”
He squinted.
“Don’t worry about my legs, boy,” he said,
“or where I’m gonna take ‘em.
Instead, worry ‘bout this here mouth,
‘bout the words I’m gonna say, and how I’m gonna say ‘em
to people like you.”
 
II.
 
When the man approached a fork in the road half a mile down from the prison,
he turned left.
He didn’t hesitate, didn’t stop to scratch his stubbled chin,
he turned left.
He turned as if he’d turned that direction a hundred times.
 
III.
 
Upon release,
some men turn left,
while the rest go the other way.
 
 

 
 
Alex Z. Salinas lives in San Antonio, Texas. He is the author of WARBLES, his debut full-length poetry collection by Hekate Publishing. He serves as poetry editor for the San Antonio Review and holds an M.A. in English Literature and Language from St. Mary’s University.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times ; his publications include
 
All the Babble of the Souk , Cartoon Molecules and Next Arrivals, collected poems, as well as translation of Guadalupe Grande´s La llave de niebla, as Key of Mist and the recently published Tesserae , a translation of Carmen Crespo´s Teselas.
 
You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

Birthday Poem for Sylvie Garnham Born November 9th 1941 by Bruce Hodder

by

If you knocked now, 23 years later,

what would I tell you over tea and biscuits?

I’d show you my book of poems, blushing, proud,

and my degree certificate. You missed them both.

I’d reminisce. I’d remind you of the fun we had.

I’d tell you I’ve learned to love trash telly since.

I’ve even read a few detective novels.

I’d tell you I have found real love at last;

she has seen me at my worst and still accepts me.

I’d say I think you’d love her; she’s my perfect match

and I’m happy, though not quite a grinning fool

with my illness. We’d have speak of that as well.

I wouldn’t have to tell you that your loss

was like an arm hacked off that never truly healed.

I wouldn’t have to say it. You would know.

Every hesitation, every facial tic I made

would tell you what my words concealed.
 
 

 
Bruce Hodder has had his poems appear in Crossroads, Medusa’s Kitchen, Best Poetry, The Rye Whisky Review and Duane’s Poet Tree, among others. This year he also published his collection The Journey Home with Whiskey City Press. He lives with his wife Michelle in Northampton, England.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times ; his publications include
 
All the Babble of the Souk , Cartoon Molecules and Next Arrivals, collected poems, as well as translation of Guadalupe Grande´s La llave de niebla, as Key of Mist and the recently published Tesserae , a translation of Carmen Crespo´s Teselas.
 
You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

ESCAPE. A Poem by Priya Dolma Tamang

by

 
If vanishing
into thin air
was
a possibility,
would the sky
consume
my substance;
and limbus
engulf my soul
and the Siberian birds
take me home,
setting sail
on wayward winds
to unknown heavens?
 
Would you notice
I am gone
and smile back
at me,
when I twinkle
at you
in star-studded nights
and make a wish
upon me
to see me
one last time?
 
An escape
into nothingness.
 
 
 

 
 
 
Bio
 
Priya Dolma Tamang is a doctor, a poet and an author. She comes from Sikkim, the second-smallest Indian state. Her debut poetry book, Ivory Gleam, was published in 2018. She shares her passion for poetics as @poetryandprosebyk on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times ; his publications include
 
All the Babble of the Souk , Cartoon Molecules and Next Arrivals, collected poems, as well as translation of Guadalupe Grande´s La llave de niebla, as Key of Mist and the recently published Tesserae , a translation of Carmen Crespo´s Teselas.
 
You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

Unrequited. A Poem by Debashish Haar

by

 

Wake up and seek
the way to the mind,
from the mind
to the remains and ashes
of what would one day
grow into a wildfire or wind-storm.
Like a gypsy, seek
every moment a new motherland
and spend the day
under the Martian tarpaulins
wearing flower blossom ornaments,
smelling like a Kasturi,
and then, like me,
understand nothing,
seek nothing,
and walk inside.
 
 
 

 
 
Debashish is a machine learning scientist, who has been published in literary magazines several times across the globe, including Poetry Life & Times, where he was interviewed twice. He is currently contending with a severe writer’s block spanning a decade, when he has hardly produced any publishable content. He is also losing emotional connection with his own work gradually, and spends more time to edit/tighten his old poems than creating any new content. Editor’s Note: Debashish Haar was interviewed twice in the old Poetry Life and Times, once by Sarah Russell then Editor & later by myself as a new Editor before it folded in 2008. The New Poetry Life & Times restarted in 2013 at Artvilla.com site, Admin David Jackson.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times ; his publications include
 
All the Babble of the Souk , Cartoon Molecules and Next Arrivals, collected poems, as well as translation of Guadalupe Grande´s La llave de niebla, as Key of Mist and the recently published Tesserae , a translation of Carmen Crespo´s Teselas.
 
You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

Share