Five Poems from No

by Idea Vilariño

March, 2026

6

Night of loneliness
of darkness
of night.
Not more
not less.
Just right
just so
perfection
night.

9

I had to go
without doubts
without reproach
without disgust
and surrendered
without a name
thus without myself
thus without anything
to willingly place
my head on the block.

14

Simply waiting for them
to fall
to be spent to pass
the days
the minutes
the seconds that remain.

25

I am
and the wind worsens
and it thunders
and it rains
and the sea sings
and here I am
no one
with no one.

51

Epitaph

To not abuse words
to not pay them
undue attention.
The simple fact was that
it was finished.
Was I finished?
A force
an honest passion and a desire
a vulgar desire
to go on.
It was simply that.

Translated by María José Zubieta

The bilingual edition of No by Idea Vilariño, translated by María José Zubieta,
was published by Carnegie Mellon University Press (Poetry in Translation) on October 7, 2025.

Selections from No by Idea Vilariño, translated from Spanish by María José Zubieta.
Copyright © 2025 by María José Zubieta. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions
Company, LLC on behalf of Carnegie Mellon University Press.

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Photo: Uruguayan poet Idea Vilariño.

Idea Vilariño

Idea Vilariño (1920–2009) was a renowned Uruguayan poet, translator, literary critic, and university professor. Her poetry collections, including Poemas de amor and Nocturnos, cemented her reputation as one of Latin America’s most influential literary voices.

María José Zubieta

Photo: Den Gaisma

María José Zubieta is a literary translator and professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at New York University, where she teaches literary translation, translation theory, and creative writing. Originally from Montevideo, Uruguay, she has coordinated multiple international translation projects, leading to the publication of works such as Every Body Is Totem, an anthology of poetry by José Watanabe.

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