Barco
El presente poema tiene como fondo los sonidos emanados de la pintura Snow Storm – Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth, de William Turner
Cuando duermes, hija,
el mundo suelta su espanto
pero tu cuerpo
deriva por el sueño
con brazos extendidos.
En esta misma cama, yo
soy un adulto en posición fetal,
un barco insomne
sacudido por el miedo,
un cuerpo que se ahoga
porque el mundo es el mundo.
Me proteges tú.
Para no ahogarme
escribo unas palabras
que no son plegaria
porque nada esperan,
que no tienen poder, no existen sino ahora,
en esta noche que siempre se repite
cuando duermes, tranquila como un barco
navegando mi insomnio.
Steamboat
The backdrop of this poem has the sounds emanating from William Turner’s painting Snow Storm – Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth.
When you sleep, my daughter,
the world releases its terrors
but your body moves
adrift through sleep,
arms outstretched.
On this same bed, I
am a grown-up curled in the foetal position,
a sleepless boat
shaken by fear,
a body drowning
because the world is what it is.
You protect me.
To avoid drowning
I write down a few words
that are not a prayer
because they expect nothing,
that are powerless, that only exist now,
in this night that always repeats itself
when you sleep, still as a steamboat
sailing through my sleeplessness.
By Manuel Iris
Issue 3 | Autumn 2023
Manuel Iris is a Mexican-born poet, father and educator living in the United States. He was the Poet Laureate of the City of Cincinnati, Ohio (2018-2020). Iris received the National Award of Poetry Merida (Mexico, 2009) for his book Notebook of Dreams, and the Rudolfo Figueroa Regional Award of Poetry for his book The Disguises of Fire (Mexico, 2014). His poems have been published in Spain, Chile, Cuba, Colombia, Portugal, France and Angola, to name a few places. In 2021 he became a member of the prestigious National System of Art Creators (Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte), Mexico.
Translation into English by César Albarrán-Torres. He is a Mexican-born father, writer and academic living in Australia. Albarrán-Torres is Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. He is the author of Digital Gambling: Theorizing Gamble-Play Media (2018) and Global Trafficking Networks on Film and Television: Hollywood’s Cartel Wars (2021). He is an editor at the online film journal Senses of Cinema.