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

Two Poems

  • by Luis Eduardo Barraza
Venezuelan poet Luis Eduardo Barraza.

The day twists on me
the word, I must not say

the myopic arrhythmia of my poor lengths
that erode

of the corrupt syllable
the sepia street of personal dog days
degrades me

and of the intimate woman        she tries
and hopes to arrange
she tends to cook, to accommodate that

                    reason of hers within me

of a certain ochre color
my day another, that    appears to continue
whether to tend, she
of Marian sheets doesn’t twist,
                    secret,
her visceral texture, of her, woman, in my other morning,

distant,

of rough matter
her red hand
full of word-feather-red

lets itself be dyed

                her (my) resonance of guilt now, as mudic

slides

 

She says, she says
she heard tell that juan doesn’t talk anymore

or say hello

that his eyes
tend to walk
between cages, also slow from the cage

the morning
of sun, pulled out his tongue
and of many one, his erosion and the height of his chair are now
before one

and of juan,
just a little bit,
hardly anything remains of juan
poet

(I begin to understand)

and his wife,
happy, she, of juan, shows him us walking
full of color()s, now

because not even the smell of shit
is noticed in the gaze
and there is no more to sweep
no more shit
she
says in the morning without juan’s tongue

and mariana
she, my wife

            pities her from the window

and sometimes

                    I do too.

(from Los días arqueados [The arched days], 2017)

Translated by Arthur Dixon

  • Luis Eduardo Barraza

Luis Eduardo Barraza (Maracaibo, 1990) is a poet. He earned his degree in Letters from the Universidad de Zulia. He has published two books: Solicardia (2015) and Los días arqueados [The arched days] (2016). He won the Premio Anual de Poesía Librería Lugar Común and third place in the Primer Concurso de Poesía Joven Rafael Cadenas, both in 2016. His work has been included in several anthologies of young Venezuelan poets.

  • Arthur Malcolm Dixon
headshotarthurdixoncroppededited1

Photo: Sydne Gray

Arthur Malcolm Dixon is co-founder, lead translator, and Managing Editor of Latin American Literature Today. He has translated the novels Immigration: The Contest by Carlos Gámez Pérez and There Are Not So Many Stars by Isaí Moreno (Katakana Editores), as well as the verse collection Intensive Care by Arturo Gutiérrez Plaza (Alliteratïon). He also works as a community interpreter in Tulsa, Oklahoma and is a Tulsa Artist Fellow.

SHARE:

related posts

I Offer My Heart as a Target: Translator’s Note

by Lawrence Schimel

There are endless metaphors for the art of translation, and while I have found many to hold resonance for me for a specific project, I don’t find that any single…

From Cantos de amor al lucero de la mañana

by Adriana Paredes Pinda

Blow to me
a song simple and lasting
a song incorruptible
a song untouched
a song
unsuccumbing before the unstoppable passing of all things

…

Piglia in Translation

by Sergio Waisman
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

GET INVOLVED

Student Opportunities

ABOUT

About LALT

LALT Team

Mission

Editorial Board

Subscribe
  • email

Subscriptions

Subscribe to our mailing list.

RELATED POSTS

In the Body a Voice

by Maximiliano Barrientos

Five Illustrated Haikus

by Canario de la Cruz