A black door and in the middle a triangle. A compact dream of innocent beginnings. There you stood, peaceful and clear. Is it me? I asked. And when your fingers resolved the air’s destiny, I knew it was me you contemplated.
From that instant I never left you. If you were there or not, I never left you.
Your journeys, the holidays, our insomnia, nothing mattered but that night you and I formed a bond. We formed a bond and I never left you.
Dr. Erika Almenara is Assistant Professor of Spanish in the Department of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of Arkansas. She received her Ph.D. in Romance Languages & Literatures (Spanish) from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2015. Her research interests include 20th and 21st century Latin American cultural production especially in the cases of subaltern/marginal subjects and communities. Almenara has published 3 books of poetry, Reino cerrado (2006), Para evitar los rastros (2009), and PERHAPS (2018). Several of her short stories have been published in anthologies. Her last piece “Nosotros no somos los únicos conspiradores” has been included in the book 21. Relatos sobre la Independencia (2018).
Emily Aguayo is a graduate student in Translation as part of the Creative Writing Program at The University of Arkansas. She received two Bachelor’s of Arts degrees in Spanish and French, also from the U of A. Her main area of focus is on early feminist poets such as Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and Christine de Pizan. Emily studied Spanish under Dr. Almenara and began translating her professor’s poetry when she entered the translation program. Emily also writes her own poetry, and her poem Tres will appear in the upcoming issue of El Cid, The National Journal of the Tau Iota Chapter of Sigma Delta Pi at The Citadel in South Carolina.