Poem
Luís Miguel Nava
Stakes
My body’s bones are planted in the desert, every single one of them.They stand straight out of the desert sands, all lined up, one after another.
To speak of a skeleton would be absurd.
My skin, for its part, was buried and has been walked over. Fancy that. My skin, which once waved high like a flag, almost a crown . . .
The wind holds my vertebra in its grip. Even the sun shining between them is bare-boned, a desert sun, infused with the desert.
Maybe we could wash this desert, or perhaps tie it up, gag it. My skin guarantees this space. As for the rest, we’ll see.
© Translation: 2008, Richard Zenith
Estacas
Estacas
Os meus ossos estão espetados no deserto, não há um só no meu corpo que lhe escape.Cravados todos eles na areia do deserto, uns a seguir aos outros, alinhados.
Seria absurdo falar-se de esqueleto.
A pele foi entretanto soterrada, há quem já tenha caminhado em cima
dela. Quem diria? A pele, outrora hasteada, uma bandeira, quase uma coroa.
O vento apoderou-se-me das vértebras. O próprio sol que entre elas
brilha é descarnado, um sol deserto, onde o deserto penetrou.
Talvez pudéssemos lavá-lo, este deserto, quem sabe, ou amarrá-lo,
amordaçá-lo. A pele garante o espaço, o resto logo se veria.
© 1989, Fundação Luís Miguel Nava
From: O Céu Sob as Entranhas
Publisher: Limiar, Oporto
From: O Céu Sob as Entranhas
Publisher: Limiar, Oporto
Poems
Poems of Luís Miguel Nava
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Stakes
My body’s bones are planted in the desert, every single one of them.They stand straight out of the desert sands, all lined up, one after another.
To speak of a skeleton would be absurd.
My skin, for its part, was buried and has been walked over. Fancy that. My skin, which once waved high like a flag, almost a crown . . .
The wind holds my vertebra in its grip. Even the sun shining between them is bare-boned, a desert sun, infused with the desert.
Maybe we could wash this desert, or perhaps tie it up, gag it. My skin guarantees this space. As for the rest, we’ll see.
© 2008, Richard Zenith
From: O Céu Sob as Entranhas
From: O Céu Sob as Entranhas
Stakes
My body’s bones are planted in the desert, every single one of them.They stand straight out of the desert sands, all lined up, one after another.
To speak of a skeleton would be absurd.
My skin, for its part, was buried and has been walked over. Fancy that. My skin, which once waved high like a flag, almost a crown . . .
The wind holds my vertebra in its grip. Even the sun shining between them is bare-boned, a desert sun, infused with the desert.
Maybe we could wash this desert, or perhaps tie it up, gag it. My skin guarantees this space. As for the rest, we’ll see.
© 2008, Richard Zenith
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