untitled poem / poema sin título
Víctor Alegría. Sin título. Óleo sobre cartón entelado.
[original]
cuando el cuerpo deja
de sentir el cuerpo y la piel comienza a ser
la superficie de la sábana y el ojo deja
de distinguir la noche
cuando no hay sonido
pero algo se observa en el silencio
cuando no hay mirada
pero also se escucha en lo informe
porque todo vuelve
a aparecer bajo una negra
transparencia como si las horas
y los días se repitiesen
en minutos y segundos
y es la misma
estrechez de la lluvia el mismo
desliz del cuerpo frente a un muro
de espinas la misma blanca
quietud del páramo
cuando hay sonido
pero nada se observa en el silencio
cuando hay mirada
pero nada se escucha en lo informe
porque todo vuelve
a desaparecer bajo una negra
transparencia como si los segundos
y los minutos se repitiesen
en días y horas
cuando el cuerpo comienza
a sentir el cuerpo y la piel deja de ser
la superficie de la sábana y el ojo comienza
a distinguir la noche
De y sin embargo los umbrales / and yet the thresholds (Mago Editores, 2019)¹
[English version / translated by Jessica Sequeira]
when the body ceases
to feel the body and the flesh begins to be
the surface of the sheet and the eye ceases
to distinguish the night
when there is no sound
but something is observed in the silence
when there is no gaze
but something is heard in the vagueness
because everything
appears again under a black
transparency as if the hours
and the days were repeated
in minutes and seconds
and it is the same
closeness of the rain the same
slip of the body before a wall
of thorns the same white
stillness of the moor
when there is sound
but nothing is observed in the silence
when there is a gaze
but nothing is heard in the vagueness
because everything
disappears again under a black
transparency as if the seconds
and the minutes were repeated
in days and hours
when the body begins
to feel the body and the flesh ceases to be
the surface of the sheet and the eye begins
to distinguish the night
From y sin embargo los umbrales / and yet the thresholds (Mago Editores, 2019)²
About the author
Diego Alegría (Chile, 1994) holds a BA in English Linguistics and Literature, and an MA in Literature from the University of Chile. He is currently a Doctoral Candidate in English (Literary Studies) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His scholarly work is situated at the intersection of poetics, rhetoric, and grammar in the literature of the long nineteenth century, particularly the poetry of British Romanticism and Spanish American Modernismo. He is the author of the poetry book Raíz abierta (2015), the bilingual chapbook y sin embargo los umbrales / and yet the thresholds (2019), and the essay collection Poética del caminar: Poems (1817) de John Keats (2023). He has won national and international poetry and essay awards, such as Juegos Literarios Gabriela Mistral Municipal Prize (2012), Finalist of the José María Valverde Prize (2014), and Lore Metzger Prize in Romantic Studies (2021), among others.
¹Nota del autor
El poema bordea entre el sueño y la vigilia; dos recursos propician este límite: repetición e inversión, repliegue y despliegue; un poema ensimismado; un poema doble.
²Note of the author
The poem borders between vigil and dreams; two resources foster this limit: repetition and inversion, withdrawal and deployment; a self-absorbed poem; a double poem.