{"id":2105,"date":"2020-11-17T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-17T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlepointpress.com\/traveltainted\/?p=2105"},"modified":"2020-11-17T14:02:07","modified_gmt":"2020-11-17T19:02:07","slug":"two-poems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlepointpress.com\/traveltainted\/two-poems\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Poems by Mercedes Roff\u00e9"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

from The Lower Chamber <\/em><\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My day won’t change
My life won’t change
Until
I pull back my hair
You give me a brief kiss on the brow
and say: it’s over
Then you the last
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> may close my eyes
It’s all the same
Help me to bury myself
One shouldn’t ask
One shouldn’t ask the one who’s leaving
It’s simple:
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> one will ask and remain without it
One can’t ask
There’s nothing to ask for
The little school
Teaching the children
Everything should be sought without words
Everything should be demanded
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> in silence
The only dignity
Watch your eyes
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> betrayal
Watch out
She looked like a young boy
Dance for the big toe of the right foot
La mer<\/em>
I felt bad
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> Bad?
Half-open mouth
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> Burgundy
S p r e a d  <\/strong> i t  <\/strong> o u t
There was blood
There was
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> blood
You weren’t going to kill me
We weren’t going to die
Dawn
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> would come
Coffee and milk for the little pimp
That morning he would lose his fortune
Dawn of a cold day the sirens’ eyes
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> like amber
and the pebbles
and the fortune
the conquerors came
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> in galleys <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sister Ana, sister Ana
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> tell me what you see
A single shadow
A single shadow
A single long shadow
I’ll see her skin in the galleys
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> her hands
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> her voice I’ll hear
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> her eyes
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> letters
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> like hair
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> like a mouth half open
Burgundy
The foreigner came
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> in galleys
In ships
The foreigner leaves <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sister Ana, sister Ana
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> tell me what you see
Men like ants in the woods
ta ta
 <\/strong>  <\/strong> ra ta ta…
A hum
A hum of bees
It doesn’t change me
What calls doesn’t change me
The leaves pressed between the pages
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> won’t change me
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> dry
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> green
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> yellow
Mmmmmmosssssssssssssssssss!
Albertine’s dream like a silk worm
It’s not the same dog that eats me in its mouth grinds
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> our bones
STERNUM
My hand is cupped and filled
I fill you
I tire you
I sate you
I bore you
I bore myself too
We’ve been since long ago coming in ships and saying
The-same-things
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> the girl
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> love and hate
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> I suffer
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> we are crucified
The foolish plot:
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> a piece of wood
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> set upon
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> another piece of wood
The intersection:
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> Nobody blinded the Minotaur
A single shadow
We’ve been calling Nobody for a long time
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> a single shadow <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ll thread beads
I’ll try pottery
I’ll design bridges
I’ll build walls
I’ll tie sneakers
I’ll do the wash in the river
There was
 <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong>  <\/strong> your face in the galleys<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
from Floating Lanterns<\/em> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Would love be to the body 
what contemplation is to the soul?  
That stillness? 
That intuition
                        of every thing at an instant?  
                          That bolt of lightning in which 
the real is made evident  
in accord with its echo?  
The elusive suspension  
that perceives and  
comprehends everything? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is that the pause in the flow of time  
the only true home and homeland?  
Home and homeland: 
                                                This is what I call to possess each other,  
                                                as you look at each other and see your own reflection 
in trustworthy and serene  
water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Body of light  
Body of goodness  
Hyperbolic petal rowing 
between one shore and the other. 
And if there are not two shores?  
If all is one? 
If there are not two or one  
but a glissando of mirrors 
toward and from the light  <\/strong>   <\/strong> \u2014or the mire? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each station with its diligent demiurge 
more confused than cruel  
deadened, sunken 
in the excess 
of a kingdom he ignores and that ignores him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regent, prince and child \u2014all at once, 
all untimely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And if it were nothing more  
than a voyage 
through the frozen ages of that prince 
toward the light     <\/strong>   <\/strong>   \u2014or the mire? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
  • <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n
    (translated from the Spanish by Anna Deeny<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
    Mercedes Roff\u00e9<\/strong> is an Argentine poet. Her books have been translated and published in Italy, France, Romania, England, Canada, Brazil, and the United States. They include Floating Lanterns, <\/em>translated by Anna Deeny (Shearsman Books, 2015) and Ghost Opera,<\/em> translated by Judith Filc (co-im-press, 2017). In 2016, her Definiciones Mayas<\/em> was listed by the Spanish newspaper, El Pa\u00eds,<\/em> as one of the 100 best books published in Spanish in the past twenty-five years. Roff\u00e9 is the founding editor of Ediciones Pen Press. She lives in New York City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
    My day won’t change
    \nMy life won’t change
    \nUntil
    \nI pull back my hair
    \nYou give me a brief kiss on the brow
    \n               and say: it’s over <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2129,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[152],"tags":[155],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTraveltainted | Two Poems by Mercedes Roff\u00e9 - Turtle Point Press Magazine \/ TPPM<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.turtlepointpress.com\/traveltainted\/two-poems\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Traveltainted | Two Poems by Mercedes Roff\u00e9 - Turtle Point Press Magazine \/ TPPM\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My day won't change My life won't change Until I pull back my hair You give me a brief kiss on the brow         and say: it's over\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.turtlepointpress.com\/traveltainted\/two-poems\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Turtle Point Press Magazine \/ TPPM\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-17T17:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-11-17T19:02:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.turtlepointpress.com\/traveltainted\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/l4APijnw.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"456\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ruth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ruth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.turtlepointpress.com\/traveltainted\/two-poems\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.turtlepointpress.com\/traveltainted\/two-poems\/\",\"name\":\"Traveltainted | Two Poems by Mercedes Roff\u00e9 - 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