Three Poems
translated by Geoffrey O’Brien
There goes Lady Death
with her shopping bags
All the faces are different from each other
As I review them through newspaper masks
I come upon myself still asleep in reflected light
as if the one looking
was not even me
And I order another coffee
Today I pay double
for us
those two
who had not even been
introduced yet
Ahí pasa Doña Muerte
con sus bolsas del súper
Las caras de nadie se repiten
Tras antifaces de diarios las repaso
Me descubro todavía dormido en un reflejo
como si quien me mirara ni siquiera
fuese yo
Y ordeno mas café
Ahora pago el doble
por nosostros
esos dos
que n siquiera fueron presentados
todavía
South Wind
who alleviate the havoc of El Niño
have pity on us
North Wind
that drives in snowy darts
with your icy fingernails
bring mercy
for all
in the midst of plagues
and pestilence
Wind of the Pampas
whirling tornadoes of maddened blood
accord some peace
to so many flooded
by the sea of their tears
O winds
Faceless powers
Pacifying another summer
unbearable
and fatal
Viento del Sur
que alivias los estragos de El Niño
ten piedad de nosotros
Brisa Zonda
que incrustas níveos dardos
por tus gélidas uñas
trae Misericordia
para todos
entre pestes
y plagas
Pampero del Espacio
agitando tornados de sangre poseída
otorga algo de paz
a tantos encharcados
por el mar de sus lágrimas
Oh vientos
Potestades sin rostro
Apaciguando otro verano
intolerable
y fatal
I have demonstrated in life
my ability to fly
and to retrieve intact
this silken sword
from the cavern of fire.
To conjure up
each brushstroke
of the distant image
to fuse with it
within a mantra
that is just barely
your name.
If dawn comes
I can lift every fragment of dream
like a smashed black cup
in which to appease intact
a dying hope
and to restore the smoke
the pollen
the miraculous sand.
The blood of marble
and your shadow’s
body.
He demostradoen vida
mi poder de volar
y retirar intacta
esta espalda de seda
desde el antro del fuego.
Conjurar cada rasgo
de la imagen distante
para fundirme en ella
dentro de un mantra
que es apenas
tu nombre.
Si amanece
puedo alzar cada añico de sueño
como una copa negra destrozada
donde saciar intacta
la agónica esperanza
y restaura el humo
el polen
la arena milagrosa.
De mármol toda sangre
y de tu sombra
su cuerpo.
FERNANCDO NOY (b.1951) is regarded as one of the outstanding Argentine poets of his generation. He has published five books of poetry: El poder de nombrar (1975), Dentellada (1980), La orquesta invisible (1983) Piedra en flor (2008), Hebra incomplete (2010) and a non-fiction book Historias del Under (Penguin House Mondadori, 2015). He has translated the Brazilian poet Adela Prado (El corazón disparado, 1985). His next book, Postales alucinadas, which he describes as a documentary fiction, will be published by Penguin House Mondadori in 2017. His poems have been anthologized in Argentina, France, Spain, and Canada.
GEOFFREY O’BRIEN has published seven collections of poetry, most recently In a Mist (Shearsman, 2015). His other books include Dream Time: Chapters from the Sixties (1988), The Phantom Empire (1993), The Browser’s Ecstasy (2000), Sonata for Jukebox (2004), and Stolen Glimpses, Captive Shadows (2013).