A LARGER HOUSE by Ángelo Néstore, translated by Lawrence Schimel


 
 
We spoke of moving,
of finally asking for a mortgage
to get a larger house.
That night we decided
to stop using condoms.

And while you entered within me,
while you entered,
I imagined which would be
our daughter’s room
and made a list in my head:
buy outfits, pencils, notebooks.

But just then I felt a trembling
that warned me that
the last desk in the class’ left corner
would always remain empty,
without anyone realizing it.
 
 
 
Ángelo Néstore (Lecce, 1986) was born in Italy and now lives in his adopted city of Malaga. He came to Spain for the rst time at twenty one to learn Spanish and decided to stay and finish his studies. He is a poet, actor, and professor in the Department of Translation and Interpreting of the University of Malaga, in addition to teaching Mandarin Chinese. He successfully defended his PhD thesis on Comics Translation and Queer Theory. He currently directs the Irreconciliables International Poetry Festival in Malaga (with Violeta Niebla) and the feminist poetry press La Señora Dalloway (with Carmen G. de la Cueva & Martín de Arriba). In 2017, he published his first book of poems, Adán o nada (Bandaàparte Editores). That same year, he won the XXXII Premio de Poesía Hiperión with Actos impuros (Ediciones Hiperión). In addition to his work as a poet, he is a translator into Italian of works such as the poetry of María Eloy- García or graphic novels of, among others, Isabel Franc, Andreu Martín & Enrique Sánchez Abulí.
 
Lawrence Schimel (New York, 1971) is a bilingual author and translator living in Madrid. Writing in both Spanish and English, he has published over one hundred books as author or anthologist, in many different genres. He is also a prolific literary translator, including over 20 poetry collections, most recently Nothing is Lost: Selected Poems by Jordi Doce (Shearsman, 2017), Tonalpohuali by Jeannette L. Clariond (Abstract Editions, 2017), I’d ask you to join me by the Río Bravo and weep but you should know neither river nor tears remain by Jorge Humberto Chávez (Shearsman, 2016), and Hamartia by Carmen Boullosa (White Pine Press, 2019). His translations of poems appear regularly in journals such as Modern Poetry in Translation, Words without Borders, Pleiades, etc.