Dislodging What did I say about the dislodging. If these cadavers float beneath the Puerto Madero sun breathing in life’s last leaves. The grave is wide open. The vast current drags along limitless fish: shads and chubs sleeping glide along the last dream. Some simply float, mimic the first finnings of infancy. Sunlight is a sword and on the wall of Jericho armored pigeons perch breathing in their breath. What did I say about the dislodging. If there’s nothing calm about this confinement. A carpet woven with moss and cadavers splits from the current, hiding hundreds of fish spewing out their greasy maggots. Water’s profile has eel eyes hungry and desperate. What did I say about the dislodging. If these cadavers float beneath the Puerto Madero sun breathing in life’s last leaves. The grave is wide open. [Poems translated by Katherine M. Hedeen] Juan Arabia (Buenos Aires, 1983) is a poet, translator and literary critic. In addition to publishing three books of poetry, he has written extensively on John Fante and the Beat Generation. He has translated Arthur Rimbaud, Ezra Pound, and a book-length anthology of Beat poets, among many others. He is the founder and director of the literary journal and press Buenos Aires Poetry. Katherine M. Hedeen is the NEH Distinguished Teaching Associate Professor of Spanish at Kenyon College. She specializes in Latin American poetry and has researched and translated numerous contemporary authors from the region. Her translations appear extensively in prestigious American and British literary journals. She is an associate editor of Earthwork’s Latin American Poetry in Translation Series for Salt Publishing.
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