Poetry
MAY 2020Swamp
by MARICELA GUERRERO
Translated by ANDREW ADAIR
Ciénega
Agua en agua en niebla ciénega alegría pesquisas entonces dices de los alimentos plantas peces y tus manos y tus pechos dulces agua en lluvia en nubes bosques humedales imantados como labios hacia frutos dulces y alegría es que contigo fluyen palabras manantiales aluviones limos en campos fértiles verano caudales cuencas cuando cuenca dices una inusitada forma del mar olas eres agua luna arroyo cuántas posibles formas de la lluvia serpentean en tu cuerpo cuántas nubes infinitas en tu risa cuántas contundentes formas de habitar el mundo en tus manos ríos que alimentan evaporan y combaten ríos noches gritos nebulosas aguas en formas sorprendentes dulzura en ámbar que no cesa de poner puentes y puntos en su sitio agua en agua que fluye en rebeldía y ternura en los ojos que te crecen cuando hablas en presente y agua en agua transformas en río en ave cabra y alegría fruto dulce agua
Swamp
Water in water in fog swamp joy investigations then you say of foods plants fish and your hands your breasts so sweet water in rain in clouds forests wetlands magnetized like lips toward the sweet fruit and joy the thing is with you flow words springs torrents silt in fertile fields summers water levels basins when you say basin a rare ocean form waves you are water moon brook so many possible forms of rain snake through your body so many infinite clouds in your laugh so many defined ways to inhabit the world in your hands rivers that feed evaporate and battle rivers nights howls nebulous waters in surprising forms sweetness in amber that doesn't cease to put bridges and points in their place water in water that flows in rebellion and tenderness in your eyes which open wide when you speak in the present and water in water you become a river a bird a goat and joy fruit so sweet water
Andrew Adair
Andrew Adair is a writer/translator from Indiana currently living in Mexico City by way of New York. He is editor-at-large for Mexico at Asymptote Journal and his work has appeared or is forthcoming in Latin American Literature Today, Waxwing, and BrooklynRail. In 2021, Random House Mondadori will publish a Spanish anthology of the poetry of Guadalupe ‘Pita’ Amor, co-edited by Adair. He is currently translating work by José Gorostiza, Guadalupe Amor, Rosario Castellanos, and Belén López Peiró. He is also a founding member of the translators’ collective, Falsos Amigos, and can be found on Twitter @a_dear_raw_din.
Maricela Guerrero Reyes
Maricela Guerrero Reyes is a writer of poems and other texts while also trying to grow succulents in between stints at the office. She has published El sueño de toda célula (Ediciones Antílope with The Veracruz Cultural Institute) which won the Clemencia Isaura Award for Poetry in 2018 and Kilimanjaro (Cardboard House Press, 2019, tr. Stalina Villarreal). Since 2018, she has been part of The National System of Artistic Creators in Mexico. She can be found on Twitter @papelcontante.