For the Puppets

1. A little woman, next, daily, hardly perceptible. A little man, next, daily, hardly
perceptible.
2. The little woman, next, daily, hardly perceptible is looking an-xious-ly for the
little man, next, daily, hardly perceptible. The little man, next, daily, hardly
perceptible is looking an-xious-ly for the little woman, next, daily, hardly
perceptible.
3. Both dream of constructing a camera or a vent-for-their-use in front of the toxic
substances that are produced, that are converted to gestures of aggression from all
possible points in Space.
4. The little woman, next, daily, hardly perceptible was never able to meet the little
man, next, daily, hardly perceptible. The little man, next, daily, hardly perceptible
was never able to meet the little woman, next, daily, hardly perceptible.
5. They linger without building the camera or the vent-for-their-use.
6. Both die alone in the same hospital, on the same day, at the appointed hour, but in
distinct cubicles, both contaminated by the toxic substances that are produced, that
are converted to gestures of aggression from all possible points in Space.
postscript: "Performed the autopsy, two cadavers already on the road to decomposition
were joined in the hospital’s freezer and today, their dry skeletons, their white bones, will
delight the mocking novitiates in one of our medical schools."

Juan Carlos Flores, translated by Marta Hernández Salván and Jeffrey Thomson and read by Jeffrey Thomson.
For the Puppets is from Thomsan's forthcoming collection Many Ways to Dig a Tunnel, translated from the Spanish of Juan Carlos Flores.