Salmon

On the road that goes

From the drugstore to Chinese food

Fear not forget

Who you were

That time in a southern river

The frozen current streaming between your legs

The debris of abandoned larch

Or those three dolphins that followed your stride

Since it would be more terrible yet

to return to that place

without recognizing the signs

of who you’ve been

how many seas you’ve rowed

to spawn on these shores.

Translated by Claudia Rojas

“Salmon” first appeared in the collection Tordo (Editorial Cuneta, 2014).

 You can read and listen to the poem in the original Spanish here.