poems about ecuador

Five Poems by Edwin Madrid

Edwin Madrid

The Child of Laurel 

in a town
   where the sun entered the houses
            jumping over walls
and waking up its inhabitants
           tickling them on their feet
a boy was born with the head of an armoire
           this fact
           moved the community
and the child became a scandal
     and it was necessary to exhibit him
in the largest plaza of the town
             to avoid crowding of cars and mules which arrived
from everywhere in the country
transporting priests scientists
                            old men and military men
only to see him sleep
              with one armoire door closed
                            and the other one open
and when he cried
   to listen to the insistent
                           jolting of its drawers
until they placed inside of it
                           a bottle of milk
the child grew
    and it became more and more difficult for him
to carry his head on his shoulders
                   he could not get on the buses
nor could he play goalkeeper
    for the town team
              but he discovered that he did not need
              to go to school
                           or university
because by only placing the books
   of whatever topic on his head
             he obtained the knowledge
             of an erudite in the subject
which turned him into the heaviest
             cranium of humanity
owning in his memory
    around one hundred thousand titles
which covered black magic to
    design and construction of space cities
likewise
    a great difficulty had been created
his head developed to such a degree
             that from armoire he went on to be
a sort of vault with cemetery doors
which prevented his leaving
             the study room
             for the rest of his life.

Not Even Science is a Sacred Cow

intrigued by the Great Wall of China
I dedicated a great part of my life
   to its research
at first
   it seemed to me impossible
that it could exist
   since with its material
they could have built a city
   for ten thousand Chinese
thus motivated by my researcher’s
                            ruminations
I studied civil engineering
   I obtained a masters in impossible buildings
I gave courses
   on designs of bridges
conferences about
   Greco-Roman architecture
but the Chinese wall
              continued to wake me at midnight
until I decided
   to undertake an expedition to Tíbet
and touch the colossal wall with my hands
   upon my return
Germany
wanted to hire me
to reconstruct the Berlin wall
   mafia men from everywhere
   stood in long lines at my office
   in hopes of my signature
for the building of their bunkers
   but today when I have deciphered
the mysteries of the great wall
I wake up
intrigued by the sand castles
   that my grandson
   builds on the beach.

Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf

One day Little Red Riding Hood
went deep into the forest
and while she was searching
the Big Bad Wolf appeared
and in Little Red Riding Hood’s voice
he asked her:
—What are you carrying in your basket?
and Little Red Riding Hood
answered in the Wolf’s voice:
A rifle with three shots
—Why does the rifle have a sight?
asked the Wolf
—The better to see you with
answered Little Red Riding Hood
—Why do you rest it on your breast?
—The better to shoot with
—And who are you going to shoot?
—You.  Bang/Bang
Colorful red
a story that must be read
and this is just said.

Little Tail

I will be as silent these days
                           as when my first pet died
I will not smoke nor go out on my walks
                           through the ushimana forest
nor do I want Felix to come
                           to talk about the government
                                         and the latest events
I need to be alone
to pause and meditate
                          like the monks of the Himalayas
                                         who spent their life
wanting to eviscerate the mysteries of aquiev
and though I am not skilled at making poems
               I will think of one that will make you immortal
I will use bowwow! your favorite word
               I will put music to it and children’s songs
a bone of sugar at the end of each stanza
                                        and on the third day
I will arrive at your tomb where you now sleep
                                                                   and I will read it
as I used to read breton
while you rolled around on my bed
             but if in that moment you happen to think
                           the same as the King of the Jews
bowwow!—I will tell you—are you from this life or the other?
            surely you will answer wagging your tail
inciting me to chase you
                           you will bite the laces of my sneakers
then
            you will begin to run around
                        until we begin to disappear
                                     in the middle of a field of sunflowers.

To Know There is a Tomorrow

This business of waking up
and knowing that there is a tomorrow
and tomorrow upon awakening
to know that there is a tomorrow and tomorrow a tomorrow and
but you know that if you wake up
on Monday
the next day will be Tuesday
and Monday is Monday
and Tuesday is Tuesday
and you know that on Monday one works
and on Tuesday one works
and Wednesdays
and Thursdays
and Fridays
but that does not mean
that all days are the same
because Monday is Monday
and Tuesday Tuesday
although the seven days
could be Sunday
and Monday Monday
but you know
that what matters is to know that there is a tomorrow.

Translated by Ted Maier and Alicia Cabiedes-Fink

Photo: Ecuadorian poet Edwin Madrid, by Eduardo Guerra Hernández.

Ted Maier, a native of western upstate New York, was born in 1960 to loving parents who nourished his interest in literary study and writing.  He took his Bachelor of Science   (1984) and Master of Arts (1989) training at the State University of New York at Brockport, where he majored in English.  After teaching public high school for five years, he entered and completed a doctoral program in American literature at the Miami University of Ohio (2001).  Ted has authored two collections of poetry and co-translated three collections of poetry.  He currently teaches English and Spanish at Danville Community College in Danville, Virginia.

Alicia Cabiedes-Fink was born (1941) and raised in Quito, Ecuador until the age of eighteen, when she moved to the United States.  Alicia earned her Bachelor’s degree in Spanish from the University of New Mexico and a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from the State University of New York, College at Brockport.  She taught high school Spanish and Spanish courses in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature at SUNY Brockport and collaborated in the publication of several teachers’ guides for communicative competence in Second Language Education.  Alicia supervises second-language student teachers at the University of Rochester.  She co-authored Between the Silence of Voices: An Anthology of Contemporary Ecuadorian Women Poets.  Alicia is now retired from teaching and lives in Brockport, New York with her husband.  Aside from translating, she dedicates her time to designing and making silver jewelry, and teaches jewelry-making in her studio and at the Creative Workshop of the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester and in several continuing education programs in the Rochester area.