Three Poems by Alicia García Bergua
translated from Spanish by Lisken Van Pelt Dus
Shoes in a circle
I see the sun set through the window
from the glow of its passage through the foliage,
hold on to the silence
of time’s footsteps
as it strides away.
We aren’t the path,
just the shoes that have gone deep,
remember the give of mud.
We are the night of crickets
murmuring songs
that evaporate afterwards.
We aren’t the river
heard in the distance
nor the tree asleep in the doorway
– we would like to be.
We are simply the threshold
we are crossing,
delaying at sunset
the silence with which it moves away.
Los zapatos en círculo
Miro el atardecer por la ventana,
de su paso luminoso entre el follaje,
conservo el silencio
con el que se alejan
las zancadas del tiempo.
Uno no es la vereda,
es sólo los zapatos tierra adentro
que rememoran la humedad lodosa.
Uno es la noche de los grillos
murmurando canciones
que después se evaporan.
Uno no es el río
que escucha a lo lejos,
ni el árbol que duerme en el portal
–quisiera serlo.
Uno es simplemente
el umbral que atraviesa
y detiene en el atardecer
el silencio con el que se aleja.
* Del libro La anchura de la calle, Dirección General de Publicaciones, Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, Col. Práctica Mortal, México, 1996
When my mother took us out as children
she moved along the street lost in thought
without considering the ground beneath her feet,
almost without looking around at all.
She gripped our hands forcefully,
an exile telegraphing her fear
of being lost in the alien city.
Those were the dreams she had and I inherited them
as if they were part of my body.
It’s been hard to learn that they’re not mine,
that it’s her homelessness that oppresses me
and separates me from myself and from the terrain
I walk daily with my dog
just to cure myself of this estrangement,
strange imprint I bear.
Al llevarnos de niños por la calle
nuestra madre iba absorta
sin ponderar el suelo que pisaba
y casi sin mirar alrededor.
Apretaba nuestras manos fuertemente
transmitiendo su miedo de exiliada,
de estar perdida en la ciudad ajena.
Esos eran los sueños que tenía y yo los heredé
como si fueran parte de mi cuerpo.
Me ha costado saber que no son míos,
que es su desamparo que me toma con fuerza
y me aparta de mí y del territorio
que recorro a diario con mi perro
sólo para curarme la extrañeza
de la impronta que traigo.
* Del libro Canciones en voz baja, BonArt y la UACM, 2021
I exist alone
I’d like words to bring me closer
to everyone I love,
but that’s impossible;
here I am vanishing as always –
showing up in a few lines
and then erasing myself.
I exist alone while here inside I dwell with my friends
and also with my dead;
I am the sediment that life
has left layer by layer in my mind
like a thirst for love that is endless.
Soy sola
quisiera que las palabras me acercaran
a todos los que quiero,
pero eso es imposible;
aquí estoy como siempre evanescente,
aparezco tras unas líneas
y después me borro.
Soy sola y aquí adentro estoy con mis amigos
y también con mis muertos;
soy ese poso que en mi mente
la vida ha ido dejando
como una sed de amor interminable.
Alicia García Bergua is a Mexican poet, essayist and editor. She is the author of seven poetry collections – most recently, Canciones en voz baja (Bonilla Artigas 2021) – and two books of essays, including the recent La lucha con la zozobra: La libertad bajo palabra en los poetas Xavier Villaurrutia, Gilberto Owen, Jorge Cuesta y Octavio Paz (Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León 2022). She has been named to the Sistema Nacional de Creadores de México five times.
Lisken Van Pelt Dus teaches writing, languages, and martial arts in western Massachusetts. Her poetry appears in many journals, including most recently Sky Island Review, Porlock, The Comstock Review and Sand Hills Literary Magazine, and in anthologies such as the Crafty Poet Anthology Series. She also has a recent translation in Book of Matches. Books include What We’re Made Of (Cherry Grove 2016) and a chapbook, Letters to My Dead (Three Bunny Farm Press 2022).
