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Poetry

Invention of the Day

By José Mármol
Translated from Spanish by Erica Mena

certainty of thursday in flesh. solitude. dry bottle. slow drizzle. brief premonition of wearing down. of earned absences. thursday’s tone in each climate, in each city alike. because time was born thursday and thursday the cycle of work-week and weekend. geographies born. beings. phantoms. tongues. mythologies. fiestas. sacrifices. fear born together with the smell secreted by bodies. when fragments of the magnet of sex float. light and contrast born because my name speaks with the voice of all men. god born after so many gods. thursday day indivisible in the permanence of glory and the sword. because kisses were born on thursday. in three mouths beyond the borders of genus. thursdays invented the wheel, and miracle of thursday the fire came by night. thursday the man who invented death with his blood rested on a rock. thursday day Narcissus unfolded his split self. unfolded the self of the world in another reality of reflections. thursday day and for all time. Sappho loved the bodies of two girls, from their legs the substance of beauty falling. the thursday the writing. another thursday—the same—reason no more than an increase of chance. thursday the number seven born and then the Phonecians and commerce. drawing. volume and color of each thing. thursday Tales divined an eclipse of the sun and the twilight of an era. because thursday some exiled god watched over his kingdom and his power. his steel mandate raised like a bolt. because thursday firstman tried to climb the tree of knowledge. thursday Adam built a cenotaph for god. intangible certainty of thursday. tremblation. anxiety. despair. because nothing is real in thursday to limit it and speak. thursday day walks with solitude. dry bottle. downpour in the dust. a burial. beginning of doubt or a maybe. your lips.

Translation of “La invención del día.” From La invención del día [The Invention of the Day]. © José Mármol. By arrangement with the author. Translation © 2011 by Erica Mena. All rights reserved.

English Spanish (Original)

certainty of thursday in flesh. solitude. dry bottle. slow drizzle. brief premonition of wearing down. of earned absences. thursday’s tone in each climate, in each city alike. because time was born thursday and thursday the cycle of work-week and weekend. geographies born. beings. phantoms. tongues. mythologies. fiestas. sacrifices. fear born together with the smell secreted by bodies. when fragments of the magnet of sex float. light and contrast born because my name speaks with the voice of all men. god born after so many gods. thursday day indivisible in the permanence of glory and the sword. because kisses were born on thursday. in three mouths beyond the borders of genus. thursdays invented the wheel, and miracle of thursday the fire came by night. thursday the man who invented death with his blood rested on a rock. thursday day Narcissus unfolded his split self. unfolded the self of the world in another reality of reflections. thursday day and for all time. Sappho loved the bodies of two girls, from their legs the substance of beauty falling. the thursday the writing. another thursday—the same—reason no more than an increase of chance. thursday the number seven born and then the Phonecians and commerce. drawing. volume and color of each thing. thursday Tales divined an eclipse of the sun and the twilight of an era. because thursday some exiled god watched over his kingdom and his power. his steel mandate raised like a bolt. because thursday firstman tried to climb the tree of knowledge. thursday Adam built a cenotaph for god. intangible certainty of thursday. tremblation. anxiety. despair. because nothing is real in thursday to limit it and speak. thursday day walks with solitude. dry bottle. downpour in the dust. a burial. beginning of doubt or a maybe. your lips.

La invención del día

certidumbre del jueves en la carne. soledad. botella seca. una llovizna blanda. premonición concisa de quebrantos. de ganadas ausencias. tono del jueves siempre igual bajo todos los climas y en todas las ciudades. porque jueves nació el tiempo y jueves el ciclo de semana laboral y de reposo. nacieron geografías. seres. fantasmas. lenguas. mitologías. fiestas. sacrificios. nació el miedo junto al olor despedido por los cuerpos. cuando flotan fragmentos del imán del sexo. la luz y el contraste nacieron porque mi nombre habla por voz de todo hombre. nació dios luego de tantos dioses. día jueves indiviso en la permanencia de las glorias y la espada. porque jueves nacieron los besos. en tres bocas más allá de las fronteras del género. jueves inventaron la rueda y milagro de jueves por la noche vino el fuego. jueves descansó en una piedra el hombre que inventaba la muerte con su sangre. día jueves Narciso desdobló su ser. desdobló el ser del mundo en la otra realidad de los reflejos. día jueves y por tanto tiempo. amó Safo los cuerpos de dos niñas cayendo de sus piernas la sustancia de lo bello. el jueves la escritura. otro jueves –el mismo– la razón como simple crecimiento del azar. jueves nació el número siete y de ahí los fenicios y el comercio. el dibujo. el volumen y color de dada cosa. jueves adivinaba Tales un eclipse de sol y el ocaso de una era. porque jueves algún dios exiliado celaba su reino y su poder. su mandato de acero erguido como un rayo. porque jueves el hombre primero quiso trepar al árbol del conocimiento. jueves Adán edificó el cenotafio de dios. certidumbre intangible del jueves. temblación. agobio. desespero. porque no hay en el jueves asunto real que lo limite y diga. día jueves camina con soledad. botella seca. aguacero en el polvo. un entierro. inicio de la duda o un tal vez.

tus labios.

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