a man standing on the tracks
stares at a train as it advances
with a moan of metal and night
the iron moves the blind diesel thrusts
the siren wails the feverish headlight
lights up and splits the chest of the earth and forest
but the man stays still before the apparatus
still ten meters left and he just stares and stares
at the invention that will chop him split him shatter him
he lacks no strength or ability
to thrust his body to one side
he can jump run dodge save himself
from the eruption of his flesh
from the splintered bone that will be knife of moon and scream
he has five seconds left and he doesn’t do it doesn’t jump
reality no longer touches him he no longer understands it
it no longer touches him
because he is beyond all realism
be it magic, infra, or dirty
he doesn’t move
the man of tar and bone
El dios de alquitrán y hueso. © 2010 Alejandro Saravia. Translation © 2016 by María José Giménez. All rights reserved.
