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From: Vol.07 N.02 – Writing in the Pause

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by Alfonso D’Aquino

On this night of the suspended hour

I’ve seen through my shut eyes

as beneath the silence

the unstoppable succession of instants

their translucent alveoli

one after another

spherical voids

float by and return

without quite being seen

 

Rows of spheres inseparable

and yet desolate

tunnels in every direction

from one thought to another in the in-

versely reflected

expired exhalation

that slowly circulates behind my eyelids

 

In these nights of the vacant moon

when the lights flick out in houses in the woods

after a moment of total darkness

the preeminence of the night

makes itself felt in every hollow of the air

gone missing

mercilessly

the wind blows

and the tips of the pines

bow in its wake

the orphanhood of stars I tell myself

is just the same as that of worms

stirred up by the rain

far off on the highway

the lonely lights of a car

cut through the intermittent darkness

now there’s neither inside nor outside

with eyes open or gone blind

in the black air

a bright crack

which is its own luminous apparition

appearing between tree trunks

oozes a living sap

 

In this hour of time deferred

like fireballs

juggled from one hand to another

the spheres revolve in my head

subtle impalpable

they surround me and I see myself

inside and outside

of its optic-idea

by which the fruit goes green every day

the tree swallows itself into the seed

the stone won’t stop melting

water crystallizes in the glass

and the star dims when it shines

 

Far off and singular a red light

coming into the curve

closes that crack

and now only the rain

whose circular sound

stretches out the moment

continues filling the night

and cloaking the house

within the vascular network

of one of those vitreous floaters

 

*

 

En esta noche de la hora suspendida

he visto con los ojos cerrados

y como por debajo del silencio

la indetenible sucesión de los instantes

sus translúcidos alvéolos

uno tras otro

esféricos vacíos

que pasan y vuelven a pasar

sin tan sólo ser vistos

 

Hileras de esferas inseparables

y sin embargo desoladas

túneles en todas direcciones

de un pensamiento a otro

en la espirada espira inversa-

mente reflejada

que lentamente circula tras mis párpados

 

En estas noches de la luna vacía

cuando la luz se va en las casas del bosque

tras un instante de oscuridad total

la preeminencia de la noche

se hace sentir en cada hueco del aire

desaparecido

inmisericordemente

sopla el viento

y las puntas de los pinos

se inclinan a su paso

la orfandad de los astros me digo

es la misma que la de los gusanos

que remueve la lluvia

a lo lejos en la carretera

las luces solitarias de un auto

cortan la intermitente oscuridad

ahora no hay dentro o fuera

con los ojos abiertos o cegados

en el aire negro

una brillante grieta

que es en sí misma su luminosa aparición

entre los troncos de los árboles

rezuma savia viva

 

En esta hora del tiempo diferido

como bolas de fuego

que van de una mano a otra

giran en mi cabeza las esferas

impalpables sutiles

me envuelven y me veo

dentro y fuera

de su óptica-idea

en la que el fruto reverdece cada día

el árbol se consume en la semilla

la piedra no deja de fundirse

el agua cristaliza en el vaso

y el astro se opaca cuando brilla

Lejana y sola una luz roja

al dar vuelta a la curva

cierra la grieta

y ahora sólo la lluvia

con su sonido circular

que prolonga el instante

va llenando la noche

y envolviendo la casa

en la red sanguínea

de uno de esos alvéolos flotantes

 

 

Translated by:

Forrest Gander, a writer and translator with degrees in geology and literature, was born in the Mojave Desert and lives in California. Gander’s book Be With won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize; a new title, Twice Alive, is forthcoming in 2021. Among his many translations is Fungus Skull Eye Wing by Alfonso D’Aquino

Published: October 2020
Alfonso D’Aquino

(Mexico, 1959). His publications include the following poetry collections: Prosfisia (Premio Carlos Pellicer 1981), piedra no piedra (1992), Tanagra (1996), Naranja verde (1996, reissued 2002), Briznas (1997), Víbora breve (1999), Basilisco (2001), Astro Labio (2011) and fungus skull eye wing, translated by Forrest Gander (Copper Canyon Press, 2013). As translator, he published the anthology Eiko & Koma y otros poemas by Forrest Gander (2013). Presently he is the director of Odradek Editions.

An Australian and international
journal of ecopoetry and ecopoetics.

Plumwood Mountain Journal is created on the unceded lands of the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and to elders past, present and future. We also acknowledge all traditional custodians of the lands this journal reaches.

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