Amanda Berenguer – from La Dama de Elche – translated by Kristin Dykstra


(the gates)

 

 

 

now I am here

                        wind shoves dunes

                                 infuriates sea

                                 drags sky

 

                        flings drawn-out howls

                        the air violent

                        expression subversive

 

it passes leaving me alert in this wobbling Logbook

I inhabit

 

in my travel diary I take notes

                                                unable to speak it aloud

I write what the windstorm leaves naked

I point to the storehouse of memories where a three-masted

            vessel shudders

                        shoved around by another squall

so ancient

 

                        waves and pastures rustle

                        and secured shutters slam

                        against the walls

 

silence, expectant

            huddled

            tacks closer              

—a deadly fish risen from the deep?

—the faintest lethal gas?

                                    total silence

now I am here

                        and all the gates have opened

 

I feel eternity’s breath

 

 

 

(las puertas)

 

 

 

ahora estoy aquí

                           el viento empuja las dunas

                                          enfurece el mar

                                         arrastra el cielo

 

                           lanza largos bramidos

                           violento el aire

                           subversivo el gesto

 

pasa dejándome alerta en la precaria Bitácora

que habito

 

en el cuaderno de viaje anoto

                                                sin poderlo decir

escribo lo que el vendaval desnuda

señalo el baúl memorioso donde tiembla

            un velero de tres palos

                           empujado por otra borrasca

muy antigua

 

                           crujen las olas y los pastos

                           y los postigones amarrados golpean

                           contra los muros

 

el silencio espectante

               agazapado

               navega acercándose

¿un mortífero pez de las profundidades?

¿un gas letal livianísimo?

                                       silencio completo

ahora estoy aquí

                           y todas las puertas se han abierto

 

siento el aliento de la eternidad

 

 


(black glass pane)

for Luis Bravo

 

 

the cone from the lamp puts me into focus

                                                     closer

                                                     more defined

I see me and they see me

 

with its phantom the image will tighten up its circles

and now I don’t know whether to drape solace over it

 

the box from a chair frames rain

on the black glass pane

                                     the tree in darkness

lists from the other side across my shoulder

         its glare covered in threads

—the window is a peephole

                       an ink dragon—

the ringdove hanging behind me

                      projects a yellow coil

and phosphorus pellets singe its wings

—repeat—

                  the black glass pane envelops us, malevolent:

 

the window is a hooded cell

                       a photographic stare

                       a revolver

 

the cone from the lamp focuses on me

 

she’s wearing red she’s sitting down she’s writing

once in a while she looks at the window

                                          at the rain on its black glass pane

they take aim at her:

                                   she’s a perfect target

 

 

 

 

(el vidrio negro)

a Luis Bravo

 

 

el cono de la lámpara me pone a foco

                                                   más cerca

                                                   más nítida

me veo y me ven

 

la imagen con fantasma ajustará sus círculos

y no sé si cubrirla ya con un paño de lágrimas

 

el recuadro de una silla enmarca la lluvia

sobre el vidrio negro

                                 el árbol en lo oscuro

inclina del otro lado sobre mi hombro

            su brillo cubierto de hilos

—la ventana es un ojo

                          un dragón de tinta—

esa torcaza colgada a mis espaldas

                   proyecta una espiral amarilla

y mostacillas de fósforo le queman las alas

—se repite—

                     el vidrio negro nos envuelve malignamente:

 

la ventana es una célula encapuchada

                    una mirada fotográfica

                      un revólver

 

el cono de la lámpara me pone a foco

 

está sentada vestida de rojo escribiendo

mira de vez en cuando la ventana

                                     la lluvia sobre el vidrio negro

le apuntan:

                  es un blanco perfecto

Amanda Berenguer (1921-2010) was a vital presence in Uruguayan literary life for more than six decades. Berenguer is the most multifaceted, restless poet of the “Generation of 1945,” known around the world for its energetic experimentation. Her first book appeared in Montevideo in 1940, followed by a steady stream of collections recognized for their excellence. Among her awards for the book from which these poems are taken, La Dama de Elche, are a first prize for poetry from the Uruguayan Ministry of Education and Culture, first prize in the Concurso Literario de la Intendencia Municipal de Montevideo, and the Premio Bartolomé Hidalgo for the second edition of the same collection in 1990. Berenguer’s lifelong dedication to the arts included work with little presses and radio programming, as well as collaborations with dancers and musicians. In 2019 Ugly Duckling Presse published Materia Prima, a bilingual anthology introducing highlights from Amanda Berenguer’s poetic career to readers of English; co-edited by Kristin Dykstra and Kent Johnson, this team-translated book was a Finalist for the Best Translated Book Award in 2020. Forthcoming from Veliz Books in 2023, The Lady of Elche is the first individual poetry collection by Berenguer to appear in full in English.

Kristin Dykstra is a writer, literary translator, and scholar. Her translation of Amanda Berenguer’s collection, The Lady of Elche, is forthcoming from Veliz Books in 2023. Dykstra’s poetry collection Dissonance: Its Ridgelines / Disonancia: Perfil de laderas, tr. Tina Escaja, is also forthcoming. Dykstra is principal translator of The Winter Garden Photograph (Ugly Duckling Presse), by Reina María Rodríguez, Winner of the 2020 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation and Finalist for the National Translation Award. With Kent Johnson she co-edited Materia Prima, a team-translated anthology featuring Berenguer (also from Ugly Duckling), Finalist for the 2020 Best Translated Book Award. Dykstra’s poems appear in recent issues of Lana Turner, Almost IslandClade Song, Seedings; bilingually in La NoriaEl Nieuwe Acá, and Distropika (tr. Escaja), and in Acrobata (tr. Floriano Martins). Her translations and reviews appeared in a variety of venues in 2021-2, some of which are Astra, Big Other, Latin American Literature Today, The Common, Two Lines, Chicago Review, and The Rumpus.