Skip to main content
Outdated Browser

For the best experience using our website, we recommend upgrading your browser to a newer version or switching to a supported browser.

More Information

Poetry

Time Out for Blackberries

By Guillermo Saavedra
Translated from Spanish by Michele McKay Aynesworth

8
A mushroom in the sauce
impresses like a tree:
not through violence, through perseverance.

13
Red watermelon humor:
meaty appearance,
watery vanity.

14
Bolder, the pear:
the heart is dead,
the shell sings on.

17
Illustrious tyranny of the peach:
no proliferating soviet seeds;
at heart, just a stony monarch.

20
Uses of the lentil:
its double convex zeal
focuses earth’s joy.

21
The ant is the grape of its kingdom:
it models solidarity
clustering in clans, black bunches.

39
Laughter in the water:
so many strawberries
are already a memory.

From “Moras en el día,” in La voz inútil (Buenos Aires: Bajo la Luna, 2003). Copyright Guillermo Saavedra. Translation copyright 2008 by Michele McKay Aynesworth. All rights reserved.

English Spanish (Original)

8
A mushroom in the sauce
impresses like a tree:
not through violence, through perseverance.

13
Red watermelon humor:
meaty appearance,
watery vanity.

14
Bolder, the pear:
the heart is dead,
the shell sings on.

17
Illustrious tyranny of the peach:
no proliferating soviet seeds;
at heart, just a stony monarch.

20
Uses of the lentil:
its double convex zeal
focuses earth’s joy.

21
The ant is the grape of its kingdom:
it models solidarity
clustering in clans, black bunches.

39
Laughter in the water:
so many strawberries
are already a memory.

Moras en el día

8
Un hongo en la salsa
se impone como el árbol:
no gana con violencia, persevera.

13
Rojo humor de la sandía:
su apariencia de carne,
su vanidad de agua.

14
Más audaz, la pera:
en el centro está muerta,
canta en la cáscara.

17
Despotismo ilustrado del durazno:
no prolifera en soviets de semillas,
solo un carozo, pétrea monarquía.

20
Utilidad de la lenteja:
su doble afán convexo
enfoca la alegría de la tierra.

21
La hormiga es la uva de su reino:
alcanza a dibujar su pertinencia
en solidario clan, negro racimo.

39
Risas en el agua:
tantas frutillas
son ya recuerdo.

From “Moras en el día,” in La voz inútil (Buenos Aires: Bajo la Luna, 2003). Copyright Guillermo Saavedra. Translation copyright 2008 by Michele McKay Aynesworth. All rights reserved.

 

Read Next

an abstract photo of pink, white, and light blue mixing together, representing the trans flag colors