Poem
Julio Carrasco
Spring in Bangladesh
You can imagine few situations as strange as returning to Bangladeshand seeing that things haven’t moved from where you left them:
the same streets
(but empty).
Facts transpire in their way, I don’t know how to describe it
There are flowers opening and closing at undetectable speeds, and also birds
For those who return to Bangladesh, reality turns into a symptom of another less relevant issue
something like letting oneself go into the air
strolling in time is being still
These streets traveled too, in their way (I don’t know how to describe it)
Now apparently you’ve returned
and roam them, agreeably confused
you try to guess in which of them an ambush awaits you
The wind combs your eyelashes: stay calm foreigner
it’s spring in Bangladesh
and there’s a dew over everything of something that isn’t quite uncertainty, or perhaps was in another time, it doesn’t matter now:
a letting oneself be in the air
a letting oneself go in time.
© Translation: 2013, Idra Novey; Julio Carrasco
Primavera en Bangladesh
Primavera en Bangladesh
Puedes imaginar pocas situaciones tan extrañas como regresar a Bangladeshy ver que las cosas no se han movido del lugar en que las dejaste:
las mismas calles
(pero vacías).
Los hechos transcurren a su modo, no sé cómo describirlo
Hay flores abriéndose y cerrándose a velocidades imperceptibles, también hay pájaros
Para quien regresa a Bangladesh la realidad deviene casi un síntoma de otro asunto
menos relevante
algo así como un dejarse ir en el aire
Andar en el tiempo es estarse quieto
Estas avenidas viajaron también, a su manera (no sabes cómo describirlo)
Ahora que se supone has vuelto
y las recorres, agradablemente confundido
juegas a adivinar en cuál de ellas habrá una emboscada para ti
El viento te peina las pestañas: ten calma forastero
pues es primavera en Bangladesh
y hay sobre todas las cosas una suerte de rocío de algo que no alcanza a ser incertidumbre, o que lo fue tal vez en otra época, ya no tiene importancia:
un dejarse estar en el aire
un dejarse ir en el tiempo.
© 2014, Julio Carrasco
From: Elogio de los reptiles
Publisher: Ediciones Tácitas, Santiago de Chile
From: Elogio de los reptiles
Publisher: Ediciones Tácitas, Santiago de Chile
Poems
Poems of Julio Carrasco
Close
Spring in Bangladesh
You can imagine few situations as strange as returning to Bangladeshand seeing that things haven’t moved from where you left them:
the same streets
(but empty).
Facts transpire in their way, I don’t know how to describe it
There are flowers opening and closing at undetectable speeds, and also birds
For those who return to Bangladesh, reality turns into a symptom of another less relevant issue
something like letting oneself go into the air
strolling in time is being still
These streets traveled too, in their way (I don’t know how to describe it)
Now apparently you’ve returned
and roam them, agreeably confused
you try to guess in which of them an ambush awaits you
The wind combs your eyelashes: stay calm foreigner
it’s spring in Bangladesh
and there’s a dew over everything of something that isn’t quite uncertainty, or perhaps was in another time, it doesn’t matter now:
a letting oneself be in the air
a letting oneself go in time.
© 2013, Idra Novey; Julio Carrasco
From: Elogio de los reptiles
From: Elogio de los reptiles
Spring in Bangladesh
You can imagine few situations as strange as returning to Bangladeshand seeing that things haven’t moved from where you left them:
the same streets
(but empty).
Facts transpire in their way, I don’t know how to describe it
There are flowers opening and closing at undetectable speeds, and also birds
For those who return to Bangladesh, reality turns into a symptom of another less relevant issue
something like letting oneself go into the air
strolling in time is being still
These streets traveled too, in their way (I don’t know how to describe it)
Now apparently you’ve returned
and roam them, agreeably confused
you try to guess in which of them an ambush awaits you
The wind combs your eyelashes: stay calm foreigner
it’s spring in Bangladesh
and there’s a dew over everything of something that isn’t quite uncertainty, or perhaps was in another time, it doesn’t matter now:
a letting oneself be in the air
a letting oneself go in time.
© 2013, Idra Novey; Julio Carrasco
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