--
contra buche y bronquio
entre ceja y ceja
sólo me cabe orar soñando
el deseo de un milagro endógeno a la poesía analítica
en estricta correspondencia
con la carga de metáforas que me hieren
desde su oculta necesidad de atención y cuidado
--
--
over seventy windblown years
tied to the mast patience has eluded me
leaving me to hum along the shrillest
siren call in grating irritation
struggling to find or develop
a minimal measure of discernment
to catch my breath one breath
between the healing itch the mending pain
and the vicious nag of wounding aches
might say my suspicious mind
dove for a dark, silty bottom
and found the drain unclogging gratitude
or trust to sluice & flush a pressured dram
of bittersweet relief
--
--
ocaso y otoño destilan
falsa sonrisa de escarcha
pálido gajo de limón
que se hunde hacia la medianoche
del horizonte entintado
sin despejar el remojado peso
de miasma y bochorno
como tatuaje profundo del trópico
AH que la luna demorara
y se tomara una vida de noches en menguar
y así desde su horizonte levantino
iluminara con su reduciente reflejo
las deambulantes medias noches
que definen Esquizofrenia Portorricensis
--
--
-ante un apagón de poder (power outage)
para un año nuevo de sombra
vacía de significado, insignificante
libertad honestamente radical
aún y tal vez especialmente
al notar marcar simbolizar su desarraigo
¡Terco propósito!
de reflejar la nada y el vacío
Vocación de fracaso
auténtica por intractable
--
a esta edad avanzada
cómo recuperar la sucia magia
de pieles abultadas que se frotan
para encender llamas comunicantes?
nunca bien aprendida
por muy mal estudiada
entre vergüenzas contradictorias
--
--
a glad struggle to focus & show
how this aging shadow
succeeds at pretend ownership
of midnight breaks--
fruitless backtracking
held beyond the bored repeats
on empty roads
every solitary night
I translate another lesson in trust
--
--
To quote replicant Leon--
'Do you know what it's like to live in fear?'
Some don't need reaper season paraphernalia
lighting up All Hallows Eve
to be reminded our lives bump down their path
surrounded by ghosts
Fighting to keep my eyes open
staring into oncoming death since I was twelve
Fighting to make peace with the fact
it will likely creep over my shoulder
to snuff my last bewildered breath in mute surprise
--
--
I run South
at an angle to fading twilight
I turn around & the river funnels a cold Northerly
against my chest where shadows fall
Dim past is the icy night calling the tune
I can't dance around
But the ticktock world of labor markets
marches at dawn
pretending clear daylight will focus justice
--
--
you seized a life that righteous gossip would diminish
and blew the beats full with contrarian history
to lift some sharper wounded substance of sweet danger
well beyond seductive labels once wild nurtured
gritty grungy balance ever under booted feet
only your voice would not shelter under alien masking thrum
whilst blunt trickster arrows sail across an ocean in your heart
finding senseless targets in your studied joking art
dear secret brother dear wandering brother
dear steadfast unknown brother painfully revealed
recognised in journeys and in loss and crackling absence
--
