Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Andrea Cote

A NOOK TO STAY

Do not summon any longer, María,
the soul of destitute things
that are no more than the bones of this dead house.

Do not look for the emptiness of your body in the walls
that do not know about you
that do not ask about you;
nor for the scars in the air
of the embalmed blue
that’s only here as proof of an abolished sky.

The landscape is all that you see,
but it doesn’t know you exist,
just as these things will tell nothing about you,
about your wounds.

Remember, María,
that you are the house and the walls
that you came to demolish
and that childhood is the territory
in which the spook longs for
I don’t know what dark nook to stay on.

UN RINCÓN PARA QUEDARSE

UN RINCÓN PARA QUEDARSE

Ya no requieras, María,
el alma de las cosas desprovistas
que no son más que huesos de esta casa muerta.

No busques el vacío de tu cuerpo en las paredes
que no saben de ti
que por ti no preguntan;
ni tampoco cicatrices en el aire
de azul embalsamado
que sólo está aquí como prueba de un cielo abolido.

El paisaje es todo lo que ves,
pero no sabe que existes,
así como estas cosas que nada contarán de ti,
de tus heridas.

Acuérdate, María,
que tu eres la casa y las paredes
que viniste a derrumbar
y que la infancia es territorio
en el que el espanto anhela
no sé qué oscuro rincón para quedarse.
Close

A NOOK TO STAY

Do not summon any longer, María,
the soul of destitute things
that are no more than the bones of this dead house.

Do not look for the emptiness of your body in the walls
that do not know about you
that do not ask about you;
nor for the scars in the air
of the embalmed blue
that’s only here as proof of an abolished sky.

The landscape is all that you see,
but it doesn’t know you exist,
just as these things will tell nothing about you,
about your wounds.

Remember, María,
that you are the house and the walls
that you came to demolish
and that childhood is the territory
in which the spook longs for
I don’t know what dark nook to stay on.

A NOOK TO STAY

Do not summon any longer, María,
the soul of destitute things
that are no more than the bones of this dead house.

Do not look for the emptiness of your body in the walls
that do not know about you
that do not ask about you;
nor for the scars in the air
of the embalmed blue
that’s only here as proof of an abolished sky.

The landscape is all that you see,
but it doesn’t know you exist,
just as these things will tell nothing about you,
about your wounds.

Remember, María,
that you are the house and the walls
that you came to demolish
and that childhood is the territory
in which the spook longs for
I don’t know what dark nook to stay on.
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère