David Francis
Respóndeme Lulú
Two days I am drinking nonstop
And the earth is still fed by witches.
Perhaps I left my mind with the oak tree’s cavity;
Which is cleverness.
The hook-pawed cat
Putts mouse over linoleum.
I’m jealous now, you can’t imagine.
Winter winter roots—wrenchable.
I speak caterpillar.
Orugas, mi amor. Muelas como castañuelas.
Find that stream that knows me, Lulú.
With you here it’s difficult to eye the distance.
I’m a kithara caught in a cistern.
Monks wait for you in wisteria.
Today, like yesterday, the reeds that cover the dead
Spread like a taming of sun, as long as March and cold.
David Francis teaches Spanish at the University of Virginia, and is translating into English a book of poems by José Asunción Silva. Two of these poems have been published by the Center for Literary Translation at Columbia University.