Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Federico Díaz-Granados

THE METROPOL CAKE SHOP

I look at the reflection of my body
in the shop window.
In the glass
I see myself fat, tired, floating over those vanilla cakes.

I think about the friends I haven’t seen again;
and what did they know about this faded heart
into which not a centimetre of the world fits?

And when you don’t recognise yourself in the steps of your son, nor in the mirror,
tired of eluding bad omens,
seeing from afar the splendour of losses,
the unfathomable and the unknown.

I shut up: my silence reaches this body I don’t understand,
I clear my heart of its last fire.

And I’m still a stranger in the glass,
fat and tired
and at my back
some shadows, gestures of dead grandfathers and uncles
floating over the vanilla cakes.

PASTELERÍA METROPOL

PASTELERÍA METROPOL

Miro en la vitrina
el reflejo de mi cuerpo
Sobre el vidrio
Y me veo gordo, cansado, sobre aquellos pasteles de vainilla.

Y pienso en los amigos que no volví a ver
¿y qué sabían ellos de este corazón caduco
donde no cabe ni un centímetro del mundo?

Y cuando no te reconoces en los pasos del hijo, ni en el espejo
harto de esquivar malos presagios
viendo de lejos el esplendor de las pérdidas
lo indescifrable y lo desconocido.

Callo: mi silencio alcanza ese cuerpo que no entiendo,
desmancho mi corazón de su último incendio.

Y sigo extranjero en es vidrio,
gordo y cansado
y atrás de mí
algunas sombras, gestos de abuelos y tíos muertos
sobre los pasteles de vainilla.
Close

THE METROPOL CAKE SHOP

I look at the reflection of my body
in the shop window.
In the glass
I see myself fat, tired, floating over those vanilla cakes.

I think about the friends I haven’t seen again;
and what did they know about this faded heart
into which not a centimetre of the world fits?

And when you don’t recognise yourself in the steps of your son, nor in the mirror,
tired of eluding bad omens,
seeing from afar the splendour of losses,
the unfathomable and the unknown.

I shut up: my silence reaches this body I don’t understand,
I clear my heart of its last fire.

And I’m still a stranger in the glass,
fat and tired
and at my back
some shadows, gestures of dead grandfathers and uncles
floating over the vanilla cakes.

THE METROPOL CAKE SHOP

I look at the reflection of my body
in the shop window.
In the glass
I see myself fat, tired, floating over those vanilla cakes.

I think about the friends I haven’t seen again;
and what did they know about this faded heart
into which not a centimetre of the world fits?

And when you don’t recognise yourself in the steps of your son, nor in the mirror,
tired of eluding bad omens,
seeing from afar the splendour of losses,
the unfathomable and the unknown.

I shut up: my silence reaches this body I don’t understand,
I clear my heart of its last fire.

And I’m still a stranger in the glass,
fat and tired
and at my back
some shadows, gestures of dead grandfathers and uncles
floating over the vanilla cakes.
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