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POETRY PAGE ONE
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COLUMN FORTY-THREE, MARCH 1, 1999
(Copyright © 1999 Al Aronowitz)
(Photo by Carlos Arturo Puerta)
[This tribute to the poet by Raśl Henao of Medellin, Colombia, is excerpted from his bilingual book of poetry, La vida a la carta; Poemas Selectos or Life a la carte; Selected Poems, in which Raśl's writings in Spanish are translated into English on opposite pages. Published by Ediciones Festival Internacional de Poesia en Medellin, the translations are by Cindy Shuster, Philip West, Edgar C .Knowlton Jr. and Ricardo Pau-Llosa. This excerpt is reprinted here with the permission of the author.]
LOS POETAS DE VISITA
Pasan en la alborada
Viajeros de la esperanza
Caminan con su pianola
Bajo el brazo
Desde medianoche
Reclinan su cabeza
En la rosa de los vientos
A sus espaldas levantan
Una naranja agria
En las esquinas
Se les cuela a cucharadas
La sopa entre el camino
Un cielo agujereado
Presentan por tarjeta
De visita
Se despiden desconocidos
En el estribo de una estrella.
* * *
THE POETS PAY A CALL
They pass at dawn
itinerants of desire
Carrying a pianola
Under an arm
Since midnight
They have rested their heads
On the compass rose
They raise a sour orange
Behind their backs
On streetcorners
They strain spoonfuls
Of soup from the road
As a calling card they present
A perforated sky
Departing as strangers
On the stirrup of a star. ##
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