{"id":47324,"date":"2026-09-19T20:15:51","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T02:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/2026\/09\/jaws-tiburon-translated-by-dora-prieto-and-daniela-rodriguez-chevalier\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T00:27:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T06:27:33","slug":"jaws-tiburon-translated-by-dora-prieto-and-daniela-rodriguez-chevalier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/2026\/09\/jaws-tiburon-translated-by-dora-prieto-and-daniela-rodriguez-chevalier\/","title":{"rendered":"JAWS [tibur\u00f3n], translated by Dora Prieto and Daniela Rodr\u00edguez Chevalier"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cSomething in my name turns me into a fish under attack,\u201d says Jaws: shark, worker, spectacle. This award-winning poetry collection collapses the distance between sea and office, aquarium and classroom, factory and vacation resort, resum\u00e9 and body under attack. <\/span><\/i>JAWS<\/span> is a book about water, breath, and suffocation, about work that disciplines the body, about survival under glass. Through (mis)translation, documentary fragments, and cinematic archive, these poems reveal how capital renders certain lives expendable, human and non-human alike. Fierce, darkly funny, and formally restless, <\/span><\/i>JAWS<\/span> insists on the shark not as monster, but as mirror… swimming, working, alive and curious about where meaning breaks down across languages, worlds, and personas… and what lurks in the waters between.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jaws<\/i><\/b>. La pel\u00edcula<\/b><\/p>\n

Los tiburones siempre mueren en las pel\u00edculas. La vida es una pel\u00edcula. <\/span>Jaws<\/span><\/i> es un anglicismo adoptado por toda una generaci\u00f3n de nadadores, de hombres que nadan, dir\u00eda Viel Temperley, tambi\u00e9n de origen ingl\u00e9s. En espa\u00f1ol se pronuncia como si se tratara de un desdoblamiento de la personalidad \/Yos\/. Pero esto no lo sab\u00eda, s\u00f3lo que algunas bestias tienen m\u00e1s dientes que otras. Y dentar significa asirse al mundo, a lo mordido, al oc\u00e9ano carioso, procarioso, jard\u00edn de sal. De ah\u00ed vengo. Como el tibur\u00f3n blanco de Amity Island, Universal Studios. De ah\u00ed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Spielberg no s\u00f3lo cont\u00f3 un mal d\u00eda de un gran tibur\u00f3n blanco, sino tambi\u00e9n del escualo cola negra, tibur\u00f3n gata, tibur\u00f3n linterna, tibur\u00f3n linterna vientre de terciopelo, tibur\u00f3n cigarro, tibur\u00f3n noche de domingo sin tele por cable, tibur\u00f3n probeta, tibur\u00f3n imprenta, tibur\u00f3n coj\u00edn, tibur\u00f3n cacharro, tibur\u00f3n ciclot\u00edmico, gatibur\u00f3n, tibur\u00f3n m\u00e1quina, mako, yo… Todos reflejados en el ojo met\u00e1lico de un robot en Hollywood. Y una alberca. Su mar era una alberca, su entorno era una alberca, su muerte: apenas un charco. Tibur\u00f3n de utiler\u00eda. Es m\u00e1s f\u00e1cil morir ahogado en la bah\u00eda o en una tina de ba\u00f1o. En cualquier lugar con agua. En un vaso. Todo es agua. Esto es agua. El agua es una pel\u00edcula. La vida es una pel\u00edcula. Y en ella siempre se muere, alguien se muere. Casi siempre nosotros. Yos.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jaws<\/i><\/b>. The Movie<\/b><\/p>\n

Sharks always die in movies. Life is a movie. <\/span>Jaws<\/span><\/i> is an Anglicism adopted by an entire generation of swimmers, of men who swim, <\/span>de hombres que nadan<\/span><\/i>, as Viel Temperley would say, also of English origin. In Spanish <\/span>Jaws<\/span><\/i> is pronounced as if it were the plural of <\/span>I<\/span><\/i>, a splitting of the personality \/Yos\/. But this I did not know, only that some beasts have more teeth than others. And to tooth means to cling to the world, to the bitten, to the cavity-filled ocean, prokaryotic, garden of salt. That\u2019s where I\u2019m from. Like the white shark from Amity Island, Universal Studios. From there.<\/span><\/p>\n

Spielberg not only told the story of a bad day for a great white shark, but also of the blacktip reef shark, catshark, lantern shark, velvet-belly lantern shark, cigar shark, Sunday night with no cable TV shark, test tube shark, imprint shark, cushion shark, rust-bucket shark, moody shark, kittyshark, machine shark, mako, me… All reflected in a robot\u2019s metallic eye in Hollywood. And a pool. His sea was a pool, his environment was a pool, his death: barely a puddle. Prop shark. It\u2019s easier to drown in the bay or in a bathtub. Anywhere with water. In a glass. Everything is water. This is water. Water is a movie. Life is a movie. And in it, there\u2019s always death, someone always dies. Almost always us. Yos.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A Shark in Chacala<\/b><\/p>\n

Jaws es otro. Jaws soy yo y mis hermanos, embriones muertos en el vientre de mi madre, embriones engullidos por m\u00ed. Jaws es otro. Mand\u00edbula de pl\u00e1stico o hueso olvidada en un librero o al fondo de las aguas, \u00bfqu\u00e9 m\u00e1s da? Siempre sola. Con polvo o con plancton. Con o sin dientes. Jaws significa que hay otra cosa que no me dicen, que no entiendo, algo. Otra lengua. Algo en mi nombre me vuelve pez asediado, perseguido, blanco de arp\u00f3n, pez de utiler\u00eda, pez muerto, a 58 pesos el kilo. En esta cinta siempre muere el tibur\u00f3n. Tambi\u00e9n en el resto. La vida es una pel\u00edcula. Pero el tibur\u00f3n sigue: ni un tanque de gas, ni cables el\u00e9ctricos, ni la basura, ni Melville, ni Darwin, ni Spielberg han acabado con \u00e9l.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A Shark in Chacala<\/b><\/p>\n

Jaws is another. Jaws is me and my siblings, dead embryos in my mother\u2019s womb, embryos gobbled by me. Jaws is another. Jaw made of plastic or bone, forgotten in a bookcase or in the watery depths. What difference does it make? Always alone. With dust or with plankton. With or without teeth. Jaws means there\u2019s something else they won\u2019t tell me, that I don\u2019t understand, something. Another language. Something in my name turns me into a fish under attack, pursued, harpoon target, prop fish, dead fish, at 58 pesos per kilo. In this film the shark always dies. In the rest, too. Life is a movie. But the shark continues on: not a gas tank, nor electric cables, nor garbage, nor Melville, nor Darwin, nor Spielberg have finished him off.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Curr\u00edculum Vitae<\/b><\/p>\n

Yo soy Jaws y esto es agua \/ para t\u00e9 o caf\u00e9 \/ agua que se bebe en los profundos edificios \/ cafeteras \/ de un bot\u00f3n saldr\u00e1 la leche \/ de soya \/ de almendra \/ de coco \/ no de vaca \/ de \u00e9sa he vaciado camiones enteros al mar \/ hace mucho \/ camiones cargados de queso \/ jocoque \/ panela \/ reques\u00f3n \/ crema buen\u00edsima \/ productos l\u00e1cteos jaliscienses \/ de primera calidad \/ arrojados al Pac\u00edfico \/ porque de lo bueno poco \/ y como usted sabe, hay que devaluar \/ Se\u00f1or.<\/span><\/p>\n

El agua \/ sobre todo el agua \/ blanca gasolina en taza negra \/ todo es blanco y tambi\u00e9n es negro \/ como un oficio \/ blanco y negro \/ como el ocio y el empleo \/ como vaca \/ orca \/ panda \/ cebra \/ como su d\u00e1lmata corriendo hacia las olas \/ Se\u00f1or.<\/span><\/p>\n

Entiendo que esto es agua \/ y trabajo \/ pulcro y buen trabajo \/ manso trabajo para un pobre tibur\u00f3n \/ de camisa hecha por su madre \/ m\u00e1quina Singer \/ una madre que fuma cigarros \/ Del Prado o Carmencita \/ uno tras otro \/ sus ni\u00f1os nadando alrededor del humo \/ con breves quemaduras \/ sin importancia.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tambi\u00e9n he servido \/ en un hostal \/ y repartido baguettes \/ porque los tiburones somos \u00fatiles \/ en el \u00e1rea del turismo \/ pagan por vernos trabajar \/ huir, digamos \/ y tras nosotros funcionan barcos y tripulaciones \/ redes en movimiento \/ la cacer\u00eda de mi cuerpo es el trabajo de alguien \/ Se\u00f1or.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pero tambi\u00e9n leo pruebas: s\u00f3lo le pido una oportunidad.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Curriculum Vitae<\/b><\/p>\n

I am Jaws and this is water \/ for tea or coffee \/ water you drink in deep buildings \/ coffee makers \/ press a button and milk comes out \/ soy \/ almond \/ coconut \/ not cow\u2019s \/ I\u2019ve emptied whole truckloads of that into the sea \/ long ago \/ truckloads of cheese \/ jocoque \/ panela \/ reques\u00f3n \/ really amazing cream \/ Jalisco dairy products \/ top quality \/ thrown into the Pacific \/ because \/ good things in small doses \/ and as you know, we must create scarcity \/ Sir.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Water \/ especially water \/ white gasoline in black cup \/ all is white and also black \/ like a job \/ black and white \/ like leisure and employment \/ like a cow \/ orca \/ panda \/ zebra \/ like your Dalmatian running towards the waves \/ Sir.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I understand that this is water \/ and work \/ neat and good work \/ meek work for a poor shark \/ with a shirt made by his mother \/ Singer machine \/ a mother who smokes cigarettes \/ Del Prado or Carmencita \/ one after another \/ her children swimming around smoke \/ with brief burns \/ unimportant.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also served \/ in a hostel \/ and delivered baguettes \/ because we sharks are useful \/ in the tourism industry \/ they pay to see us work \/ run away, let\u2019s say \/ and behind us they run boats and crews \/ moving nets \/ the hunt for my body is someone\u2019s job \/ Sir.<\/span><\/p>\n

But I also proofread: I\u2019m just asking for a chance.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

IR\u00c9 AL GRANO: mi vida es dental; mi mand\u00edbula, retr\u00e1ctil. Quince hileras de dientes, mudas de dientes cada dos semanas, filas intercambiables, que corren en mi hueso dislocado, desfilan, avanzan, retroceden, \u00a1hacen olas! Un promedio de veinte mil dientes a lo largo de mi vida. Promociones, incorporaciones, p\u00e9rdidas. Mi vida es dental. La naturaleza, ese ogro, sacando u\u00f1as en enc\u00edas, y yo poniendo nombres. Todos mis peque\u00f1os juntos, hijos nacidos de m\u00ed, de mi carne, entre mi carne, frenes\u00ed alimenticio. Todos juntos con ese otro hombre dental, cuya vida tambi\u00e9n es calc\u00e1rea y dolorosa y apegada al alimento perecedero de la carne o el plancton o las algas o la uva o el dinero. O la carne. Cuando lo miro embrocado sobre m\u00ed, est\u00e1 disminuido. Me gusta saber que con mi dolor de dientes no estoy m\u00e1s solo que ese otro hombre dental, con sus caninos, de porcelana, que pasan las noches en un vaso. Los m\u00edos velan en el mar e inspiran libros que dicen: \u201cEl gran pez se mov\u00eda silenciosamente en el agua de la noche\u201d. Mis dientes lo pasan en grande; cuando crezcan podr\u00edan incluso hacer algo extraordinario, como decorar el arco de una estancia o una pared en la capitan\u00eda de puerto.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019LL GET TO THE POINT: my life is toothy; my jaw, retractable. Fifteen rows of teeth, molting teeth every two weeks, interchangeable rows, running in my dislocated bone, parading, advancing, retreating, making waves! An average of twenty thousand teeth throughout my life. Promotions, additions, losses. My life is toothy. Nature, that ogre, with its claws out in gums, and me, putting a name to it. All my little ones together, children born of me, of my flesh, among my flesh, feeding frenzy. All together with that other toothy man, whose life is also chalky and painful and attached to the perishable food of flesh or plankton or algae or grapes or money. Or meat. When I look at him, poured into me, he is diminished. I like knowing that with my toothache I\u2019m no more alone than that other toothy man, with his porcelain canines that spend their nights in a glass. Mine keep vigil at sea and inspire books that say: \u201cThe great fish moved silently in the night water.\u201d My teeth have a great time; when they grow up they might even do something extraordinary, like decorate the archway of a room or a wall in the harbor master\u2019s office.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EN CASA HAY DOS cobayas que se alimentan de zanahorias \/ no saben del agua \/ que son animales acu\u00e1ticos \/ que cuando no comen zanahorias comen pelets \/ sustantivo en ingl\u00e9s que tambi\u00e9n nombra a cierto tipo de balas \/ pero que en general se refiere a porciones diminutas de materia comprimida \/ como uno frente al mar.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AT HOME THERE ARE TWO guinea pigs that eat carrots \/ they don\u2019t know about water \/ what aquatic animals are \/ that when they don\u2019t eat carrots they eat \/ pellets \/ English noun that also names a certain type of bullet \/ but that generally refers to tiny portions of compressed matter \/ like someone facing the sea.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Translated by Dora Prieto and Daniela Rodr\u00edguez Chevalier<\/span><\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

JAWS [tibur\u00f3n]<\/i><\/b> is available now from Cardboard House Press.<\/b><\/a>
\nBuy books by the authors and translators featured in this issue on our Bookshop page!<\/b><\/a><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cSomething in my name turns me into a fish under attack,\u201d says Jaws: shark, worker, spectacle. This award-winning poetry collection collapses the distance between sea and office, aquarium and classroom, factory and vacation resort, resum\u00e9 and body under attack. JAWS is a book about water, breath, and suffocation, about work that disciplines the body, about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":47323,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2893],"tags":[5841],"genre":[],"pretext":[],"section":[],"translator":[5817],"lal_author":[5816],"class_list":["post-47324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adelantos-de-traduccion-y-novedades-editoriales","tag-numero-39","translator-dora-prieto-daniela-rodriguez-chevalier","lal_author-xitlalitl-rodriguez-mendoza"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47324"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47325,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47324\/revisions\/47325"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47324"},{"taxonomy":"genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/genre?post=47324"},{"taxonomy":"pretext","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pretext?post=47324"},{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=47324"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/translator?post=47324"},{"taxonomy":"lal_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lal_author?post=47324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}