Rodolfo Mata
NOT MY LANGUAGE*
For Shelley and Andy
English words
are landing on my brain
while I sit
in this open library
in the most vivid silence
full of tires rolling away
random biplanes or jets
crossing the blue sky
and Chinese chimes
touched by the wind
English words are landing
like the iridescent mallard
that now swims gently
quacking by the pool’s edge
while the underwater robot
vacuum-cleaner lurks around
innocently
camouflaged just by
the reflections and refractions
of our parallel worlds.
Language milieux entangle:
my head is a bird’s nest
*Poem written originally in English
Rodolfo Mata (Mexico City, 1960), poet and translator. His last books are Qué decir (2011) and Nuestro nombre (2015). He is coauthor of the anthology Alguna poesía brasileña 1963-2007 (2009).