POEM OF THE DAY translated by NINA SERRANO

2008-02-11T04:44:00.000-08:00

All poems written day by day in 2007
(click on images to enlarge)
((photos and drawings by adrian))

DAY 8
(in the darkness, while you caress me)

The equilibrium
of the moon up in the sky
is held in your hands
(January 8 dawn)

DAY 29
(for Humberto)

We are Gods enclosed in a grain of sand
our small body is a giant
filled with all we have been
all we are being
all we will be

a fetus in the womb
-a cry and a little blood-
a child learning to speak
-a tooth and a little blood-
a blushing adolescent
-a kiss and a little bit of blood-
a traveler, a reader, a lover
-a poem and a little bit of blood-

We are Gods of blood
enclosed in a small body of sand
trying to think what we should think
when we should be trying to think the incredible
(29 of February, between 5 and 6 in the morning)

DIA 36

Neruda writes a poem looking at the ruins
at the same time that I cut a fresh fish filet
illuminated by the lighthouse that helps travelers
and your mind transports itself to the childhood of Gypsies
traveling against the wind and sand

the seasons mix
now Neruda is a Gypsy who tries my ceviche
in a desert full of lighthouses
and this kitchen faces the ocean of your childhood and I
in the heights of Machu-Picchu see the fish flying
from my next poem.
(Morning of February 5)

DAY 81
What do we do when we are next to the person we love?
(select an option)

- Give yourself over sweetly to the suffering of a caress.
- Listen attentively to the sound produced by kissing her lips
- Let yourself go with the trembling of your skin that seems to burn you in an embrace
- Leave a path of kisses to mark your way back
- Just look at her
- All of the above
(March 22)

DAY 86
What are shoes good for?

- To take us to places that they know better than we do
- To find the footsteps you left when you went
- To cherish the hidden desire to jump for joy
- To eat the steps that others have left forgotten in the corners
- To live at our feet
(March 27)

DAY 91
What is a coincidence?

- Two different watches running fast at the same time but in different pockets
- The shadow of a butterfly that no longer is
- The flower that sleeps inside each stone
- The small stone we gathered along the way years ago and now we find in our pocket
- Your eyes that don’t know that they close just at the moment that I cross in front of you, or maybe not
(April 1)

DAY 216
(for Julia)

From the ocean she returns every night
crossing the border of Moron awakening her with a kiss on her eyes
moistening the edge of her blanket with salt
where she guards the story of an embrace
the story of a dance she learned
that lit the flame
to keep on living
the dance that she gives you on every stage
the pain of your absence is of flesh and bone
of cloud your body of mother
(August 4)

DAY 244

I see you growing and I start looking for
all your childhood photos
as if I could feed time backwards
so that you return to my arms
with this aroma that you hide behind your neck
that saves me each bad day
and makes think about how you will be as a grown up

I see you grow
and I take photos from every angle
not to feed my desire for you to stay as you are
but to play a trick on time
and every once in a while
play with your stuffed dog.
(September 1)

DAY 255

Today I have to confess that the moon
is a hole that I had to cut in the sky
so that you wouldn’t be afraid in the dark of the night
and the sun is a pile of fireflies
that your mother tied by the wings
and put in a crystal ball
the sea is an interminable collection of transparent cloth
that your grandmother helped me sew
the fish are the Polaroid applause of friends
and the islands are wrinkled hats
of elegant gentlemen that stay sleeping beneath the water
the birds and the stars are drawings that grandfather never stops painting
This is the way of the world of my dear
a pile of rare things stuck on top of the other
and others yet to be stuck on
waiting for your hands to grow along with your smile
to make a great collage.
(September 12)

DAY 257

Today your mouth has eaten all
the words of my mouth and in silence
I have loved you
(September 14)

DAY 258

Today the moon
has woven wall to wall
the island where my body
refreshes itself from the day
(September 15)

DAY 284

-Individual performance exercise for rainy days 1-
Close your eyes
raise the hand that we normally write with
pretending we had a pencil between the thumb and the index
press the fingers and begin to draw in the air
small circles rectangular stairs large curves
let your hand keep moving in the air
drawing without a previous road
now much faster now
much s l o w e r now much s l o w e r yet
until you feel your hand floating and your fingers separate
now the drawing is a caress now
raise the other hand
now it’s a cloud now invisible bread
that feeds desire now it is time to open your eyes
now look at the drawing that remained
only you can see it
it last an instant but it lasts
and it’s yours
completely yours and now…
now repeat the whole operation without making it a trick
Close your eyes…
(October 11)

DAY 297

Luminescent and lacerating
omnipresent even as it becomes invisible
it doesn’t leave mark on the wound it causes
opening and closing its impossible scar
(October 24)

DAY 303
-spirit of the black box-

Today I was in the mind of that child
with 97 commercials, 715 personalities and
517, 823 unintelligible words
in 3 hours and 52 minutes of high frequency waves
erasing from its mind the first hug
the first cry
the first tooth
the first flower
telling it all that there is to forget
to be really entertained
only by the light
the divine light of emptiness
(October 30)

DAY 320

The moon dies of sorrow
the cloud of shame
of blue dies the day
and of a breakdown the trees
on learning that there is no cure for forgetting
nor relief for memory
(November 16)

DAY 327

Oh diminutive human body
suspended between heaven and earth
fighting every instant with gravity
swollen with fluids that nourish and weigh you down
with organs that grow and deform
what am I going to do with you
in addition to scratch if you itch me
and cover you if you feel cold
Let me sit on the edge of the bed
to try to understand you
I will undress you a little more in the silence of dawn
And I will travel with you wherever you take me
I trust in the routes of your blood
and the footsteps your shadow leaves on passing
only let me go with you
will you come with me?
(November 23)

DAY 344

The birth of a silence
is written in the agony of a sigh
(December 10)

DAY 345

Silence is the slave of fear
even though we treat fear like a king
(December 11)

DAY 349

We keep our coins in small boxes
that we didn’t use at the proper time
because we wanted to remember a place that we already forgot
stamps that already lost their value
and their beauty is debatable
locks of hair from someone who was very special
and who suddenly we don’t remember any more
secrets that went out to all but we persist in maintaining
they keep on being secrets
(December 15)

DAY 363

The stone knows when to release into nothing
it knows why when and how
the immortal stone makes its death and knows how to hold its breath
just to continue spying on the moment of our death
the stone knows everything
my body doesn’t know anything and every day
goes further from its beginnings
but the stone envies me my numbered days.
(December 30, 2007)

These 20 poems were read at the Red Hills Books in San Francisco CA on February 9, 2008
by Nina Serrano & Adrian Arias