Skip to main content
Outdated Browser

For the best experience using our website, we recommend upgrading your browser to a newer version or switching to a supported browser.

More Information

Poetry

Time Out for Blackberries

By Guillermo Saavedra
Translated from Spanish by Michele McKay Aynesworth

8
A mushroom in the sauce
impresses like a tree:
not through violence, through perseverance.

13
Red watermelon humor:
meaty appearance,
watery vanity.

14
Bolder, the pear:
the heart is dead,
the shell sings on.

17
Illustrious tyranny of the peach:
no proliferating soviet seeds;
at heart, just a stony monarch.

20
Uses of the lentil:
its double convex zeal
focuses earth’s joy.

21
The ant is the grape of its kingdom:
it models solidarity
clustering in clans, black bunches.

39
Laughter in the water:
so many strawberries
are already a memory.

From “Moras en el día,” in La voz inútil (Buenos Aires: Bajo la Luna, 2003). Copyright Guillermo Saavedra. Translation copyright 2008 by Michele McKay Aynesworth. All rights reserved.

English Spanish (Original)

8
A mushroom in the sauce
impresses like a tree:
not through violence, through perseverance.

13
Red watermelon humor:
meaty appearance,
watery vanity.

14
Bolder, the pear:
the heart is dead,
the shell sings on.

17
Illustrious tyranny of the peach:
no proliferating soviet seeds;
at heart, just a stony monarch.

20
Uses of the lentil:
its double convex zeal
focuses earth’s joy.

21
The ant is the grape of its kingdom:
it models solidarity
clustering in clans, black bunches.

39
Laughter in the water:
so many strawberries
are already a memory.

Moras en el día

8
Un hongo en la salsa
se impone como el árbol:
no gana con violencia, persevera.

13
Rojo humor de la sandía:
su apariencia de carne,
su vanidad de agua.

14
Más audaz, la pera:
en el centro está muerta,
canta en la cáscara.

17
Despotismo ilustrado del durazno:
no prolifera en soviets de semillas,
solo un carozo, pétrea monarquía.

20
Utilidad de la lenteja:
su doble afán convexo
enfoca la alegría de la tierra.

21
La hormiga es la uva de su reino:
alcanza a dibujar su pertinencia
en solidario clan, negro racimo.

39
Risas en el agua:
tantas frutillas
son ya recuerdo.

From “Moras en el día,” in La voz inútil (Buenos Aires: Bajo la Luna, 2003). Copyright Guillermo Saavedra. Translation copyright 2008 by Michele McKay Aynesworth. All rights reserved.

 

Read Next