Translated by Eloisa Amezcua
The girl with an open dress wakes
at the hour when words are on holiday
because she herself is a holiday
as she stretches her thighs to the sun
and the wind runs over her with its infinite fingers
A glass tricycle awaits her
on the flowered patio
and a nest of blind butterflies
undresses between her honeyed bones
In her blue-feathered bed she hangs
her wheat-colored braids and counts
her dead bees until she falls asleep
while the afternoon surrounds her
with its yellow lips
The girl with an open dress wakes
at the hour when clocks dream
because she herself is a dream
as she unbuttons her dress
and the sparrows mad for love
pile up on her paper breasts
La Hija de Rimbaud
La niña del vestido abierto
se levanta a la hora
en que las palabras están de fiesta
porque ella misma es una fiesta
cuando tiende sus muslos al sol
y el viento la recorre
con sus dedos infinitos
Un triciclo de cristal la espera
junto a las flores del patio
y un nido de mariposas ciegas
se desnuda entre sus huesos de miel
Y en su lecho de plumas azules
ella cuelga sus trenzas de trigo
y cuenta sus abejas muertas
hasta quedarse dormida
mientras la tarde la envuelve
con sus labios amarillos
La niña del vestido abierto
se despierta a la hora
en que los relojes sueñan
porque ella misma es un sueño
cuando abre su vestido
y los gorriones se amontonan
locos de amor
sobre sus pechos de papel
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 17, Issue 2.
Mario Meléndez (Linares, 1971) studied Journalism at La República University of Santiago, Chile. Figured among his books are: Autocultura y juicio (with prologue from the National Prize of Literature, Roque Esteban Scarpa) Apuntes para una leyenda and Vuelo subterráneo. In 1993 he received the Municipal Prize of Literature in the Bicentennial of Linares. His poems have appeared in different magazines of Latino-American literature and in national and foreign anthologies.
Eloisa Amezcua is an Arizona native. She recently finished her MFA at Emerson College and works in Cambridge, MA. She’s received scholarships from the NY State Summer Writers Institute, the Bread Loaf Translator’s Conference and the Vermont College of Fine Arts Post-Graduate Workshop.
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