Poem of the Week: Carlos Parada Ayala

       

Vaivén de fantasías

 

Los argonautas se albergaron

en la oscuridad de mis zapatos
y un dragón azul acudió
a encenderme la estufa.
El cielo limpio se escondió
en las gavetas del armario,
lo que explica el silencio
de los pájaros y el exceso
de neblina en la ropa que me puse.

Hoy la soledad es un vaivén

de fantasías.

Mejor así.

Ayer el día desató un

huracán de anzuelos

que dejó al mar vacío 

y al sol humedecido

como ojo de ballena herida.

Marooned

The argonauts took shelter

in the darkness of my shoes

and a blue dragon arrived

to light the stove for me.

The clear sky hid

in my dresser drawers

which explains the silence

of the birds and the excess

of mist in the clothes I put on.

Today solitude is an ebbing and flowing

of fantasy.

Better this way.

Yesterday set off a

hurricane of fish hooks

that left the sea empty

and the sun slick                              

like the eye of an injured whale.

- Carlos Parada Ayala

[English Translation: Andrea Johnson]

Used by permission.

Carlos Parada Ayala is the author of the poetry book, La luz de la tormenta/The Light of the Storm (Zozobra Publishing, Maryland, 2013) and co-editor of the anthology Al pie de la Casa Blanca: Poetas hispanos de Washington, DC (North American Academy of the Spanish Language, New York, 2010.) This poetry anthology, co-edited with Argentinian poet Luis Alberto Ambroggio, was selected by the US Library of Congress to celebrate 400 years of poetry written in Spanish in the United States. Parada Ayala is a recipient of Washington, DC's, Commission on the Arts Larry Neal Poetry Award and has received the Commission's individual artist's fellowship.

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