Fidelity

To age another year in the summer
colony.
But not even two sensible lovers
slow down the hostile
weft of the eucaliptis.
Like in a watercolor in front of a group
of critics in training,
west opens a wound
between the canoeists.
It occurs to me that we are snails
on a sprig, two
pieces pressed together
in the fist of sea shells
on a yellow stem
violating some law of matter.

Translated by Curtis Bauer
“Fidelity” is from Echado a perder [Spoiled] (Madrid, Visor, 2007); this English translation appeared in The Dirty Goat #25.

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