Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Felipe García Quintero

When my fat mother is sleeping she seems like a whale

    When my fat mother is sleeping she seems like a whale
stranded on the beach. Then I laugh. And my eyes that watch her
sleep become water in her ocean and my hands sand on the shore.
  
    While she sleeps I think that maybe life gives itself up to the
earth just like the whales and that I try in vain now to move her
body towards the waters she does not want to go to anymore.

(1995)

When my fat mother is sleeping she seems like a whale

    Mi madre gorda cuando duerme parece una ballena encallada
en la playa. Entonces río. Y mis ojos que la miran desde el sueño se
vuelven agua de su océano y mis manos arena de la orilla.

    Mientras duerme pienso si la vida se entrega a la tierra como
las ballenas y si en vano ahora intento mover su cuerpo hacia las
aguas que no quiere más visitar.

(1995)
Close

When my fat mother is sleeping she seems like a whale

    When my fat mother is sleeping she seems like a whale
stranded on the beach. Then I laugh. And my eyes that watch her
sleep become water in her ocean and my hands sand on the shore.
  
    While she sleeps I think that maybe life gives itself up to the
earth just like the whales and that I try in vain now to move her
body towards the waters she does not want to go to anymore.

(1995)

When my fat mother is sleeping she seems like a whale

    When my fat mother is sleeping she seems like a whale
stranded on the beach. Then I laugh. And my eyes that watch her
sleep become water in her ocean and my hands sand on the shore.
  
    While she sleeps I think that maybe life gives itself up to the
earth just like the whales and that I try in vain now to move her
body towards the waters she does not want to go to anymore.

(1995)
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