Skip to content
LALT-Iso_1
  • menu
Search
Close
  • English
  • Español
Dossier: Colombian Poetry

From a Distance, You Can Only Ask

  • by Juan Afanador

Is counting bodies the same
as counting rocks at night?
The focused gesture of counting
—piece by piece—
is it the same?
Is it the same
lantern light
that illuminates the body and the rock?
And if they’re thrown in the water,
do they sink the same?
And if one of the bodies does not appear,
is it the same absence that a rock leaves
when it’s not in its place?

 

Translated by Juan Afanador

  • Juan Afanador

Juan Afanador (Bogotá, Colombia, 1992) studied Anthropology with an emphasis on Creative Writing at the Universidad de los Andes. Some of his poems have been published in REC (the magazine of the students of Arts and Humanities of the Universidad de los Andes), Cabeza de gato, La raíz invertida, and Literariedad, as well as in Conexos magazine. He is founder, director, and member of the editorial board of the virtual poetry magazine Otro páramo.

SHARE
Print Friendly, PDF & Email
RELATED POSTS

Where the Rocinantes Go to Die

by Víctor Carreño

In his acceptance speech, Joseph Brodsky said that to receive the Nobel Prize was to take the longest route between Saint Petersburg and Stockholm. This was no surprise, as it…

Articulating the Digital desde la literatura in Latin America

by Scott Weintraub

When faced with a totally new situation, we tend to attach ourselves to the objects, to the flavor of the most recent past. We look at the present through a…

Three Poems

by Rowena Hill

The streaked blue orb / fixed her coordinates in space / regulated her oven and the spate of waters / conceived live cells starfish / sprouted furry limbs / spines…

LALT-LatinAmericanLiteratureToday-Black_1

University of Oklahoma
780 Van Vleet Oval
Kaufman Hall, Room 105
Norman, OK 73019-4037

  • Accessibility
  • Sustainability
  • HIPAA
  • OU Job Search
  • Policies
  • Legal Notices
  • Copyright
  • Resources & Offices
Updated 06/20/2022 16:00:00
  • email
MAGAZINE

Current Issue

Book Reviews

Back Issues

Author Index

Translator Index

PUBLISH IN LALT

Style Guide

Guidelines for Translators

LALT AND WLT

Get Involved

Student Opportunities

GET TO KNOW US

About LALT

LALT Team

Mission

Editorial Board

Subscribe
  • email

Subscriptions

Subscribe to our mailing list.