Selections from Sopa de Ajo y Mezcal by Florencia Walfisch, translated by Alexis Almeida


 
She changes tables. it’s been a while since she’s sat down in this place. meanwhile red

falls over the city that invents its own night. there’s a word for this and another. that

memory invents its own death. she changes tables. it’s been a long time since she’s

sat down in this place. oaxaca lowers its glare into night. time spins on a bank

of broken images.

 

Cambia de mesa. es desde entonces que no se ha sentado en esa lugar. mientras el rojo

cae sobre la ciudad que inventa su noche. hay una palabra para esto y lo otro. ese

recuerdo inventa su propia muerte. cambia de mesa. es desde entonces que no se ha

sentado en ese lugar. oaxaca baja su luz hasta su noche. el tiempo gira en un médano de

imágenes quebradas.

 

***
 
 
 

Imagine she cuts her hair.

She cuts her hair.

Imagine she shaves her head.
 
 

Imagina que corta su pelo.

corta su pelo.

imagina que afeita su cabeza.

 

***
 
 
 

She draws. in the attempt to remove things the real form appears. the identity of

the limit, what becomes something else. all the remaining time to come to understand.
 
 
Dibuja. es en el intento de sacar donde aparece la verdadera forma. la identidad del

límite, lo que se desliza en lo otro. todo el tiempo que falta para llegar a comprender.
 

***
 
 
 
she dances to save herself from everyone. takes pleasure in the sensations of when and during.
she writes the memory of this dancing-state. as if the storm could laugh. as if pleasure had
teeth.
 
 

Baila para salvarse de todo lo otro. goza en la sensación de lo que hay cuando durante.
escribe el recuerdo de su estado de bailando. como si la tempestad pudiera reír. como si la delicia tuviera dentadura.

 
 
 

Florencia Walfisch was born in Buenos Aires. She writes and makes textile art. She has participated in various individual and group shows, interdisciplinary projects, and poetry readings. With Ana Lafferranderie, she curates the reading series at Fedro, a bookstore and cultural center in San Telmo. Her poetry has appeared in various journals and anthologies. In 2004, Sopa de Ajo y Mezcal received the Jaime Sabines prize from Coneculta in Chiapas. She lives and works in her hometown.
 
Alexis Almeida teaches creative writing at the University of Colorado, where she is at work on an MFA in poetry. Recent work has appeared or is forthcoming in TYPO, Vinyl Poetry, Aufgabe, Asymptote, Heavy Feather Review, DREGINALD, Denver Quarterly, and elsewhere. She performs with the poets’ theater group GASP, and lives in Denver.