8 POEMS by JULIA FERRER

(Peru, 1925-1995)

Translated by Carlos Lara

3 walls 3 walls
and a dark night

hopped a wall

2 walls 2 walls
and a dark night

hopped a wall

1 wall 1 wall
and a dark night

hopped a wall

lima - october - 42
above the drowsing petals
my caress wavers
a touch would desecrate their dreaming

but when I see them once they’ve fallen

the quivering little corpses

I deign to kiss them

lima - march - 42
how infinitely are we roads
how endlessly we travel
quietly

how unbelievably are we gods

how we epitomize little dolls
nonchalantly

how automatically are we human

how lugubriously do we squirm
placidly

lima - april - 50
the door was open
I saw it it was there

and I kept going

the door was ajar

I approached it it was there

I hesitated

the door is closed

I pushed it it was there

I retraced my steps

lima - september - 48
we walk each day
with paws ready
yet clawless

and we stroll around beneath insects

that spy on us
and govern us
and even reward us

we walk with wings

and traumatized eyes

we walk
and walk

lima - july - 53
I

the man is suspended

from some star
his shoes fall off
and land somewhere unexpected

and he lies down or springs up

or gets eaten
or he eats

the man slips

out of some woman
and he begins to flap his wings
with zero conviction

and he doesn’t fly

he looks at all that surrounds him
with zero conviction

and he doesn’t see

II

the unexpected is
what sets you off

terrible the larvae of security

that eat through everything

the inaccurate bites of

chance
they let you breathe pure air sure

always longitudinal
to the parallel
of the transversal

through the left eye

through the left eye
through the left eye

the defecting eye

crosses borders and arrives at the
unexpected

which is what sets

you off
III

a poem a day
snacking on some carbs
eyes
eyes
big ass eyes
will smile at me intelligently
and make me blush

to leave immediately
urgently urged

to forget your bags

to miss your train

to arrive

to ask
ask
ask

a poem a day
snacking on some carbs

são paulo - february - 54

where’re you going?—they said to me— but there are gestures
I never care to make

simply put a white horse carried me off

and it was my time

seated beneath its head

I was waiting peacefully
and then it happened

the sidereal bell

it rang for me

and my hands my eyes my whole body

it communed with all of me

that really happened

disproportionate faces
spied on my innards
blued the embers of its horse eyes
so I couldn’t look straight ahead
and cosmic scaffolding
outlined my cities
their people their bullshit

all was born again from the same foam

that really happened

and only to me

the green relaxed

the black tranquility of the void
hovered
the red was consumed
the red hallucinated me
the red

simply put a white horse

carried me off
and on a silver horse I would return
all was INFERNAL BLUE
why not die there
if my life was really over
if my silver horse
carried me to another world

why not die there

among the silent willows
watching a single star
flying through the cornfields

the feeling of a voice remained

that called only to me

where’re you going?—they said to me—but there are gestures

I never care to make

madrid - november - 56
every yawn begins in my throat
and I am forced to ask your name

it’s almost incredible

to be one man
playing both red and black
staring at your own face
and to half convince me
that I am the same voice
that sang in the first eyes ever
to behold seagulls
at the mouth of every river you understand the truth
(and you don’t believe it)
every time I blink I betray you
every time I laugh
your heart notices
ah! but it’s not worth it
loving me so much
I laugh simply because
a flower is beautiful or some animal calls to me
I need everything that I already know
if I’m stuck on this planet with you
there must be a reason
I know you but
I love you I love you
as spider eats fly
(I am the spider and the fly)
and children chew their nails
and I’m sitting here writing
returning this pencil that I borrowed

paris - march - 57