Carmen Váscones
translated by Alexis Levitin
Untitled
This they made of my body:
a convent of dreams
confessional of sensuality
chalice of sex
deadly host
prayer of pleasure
bible of orgasm
apostle of desire
unconfessed sinner
failing of thought
word or deed
origin of creation
unforbidden word
profane will
exodus from the other exodus
psalm of many tales
something to sing of desire.
Untitled
The great boulder holds up the prophet of defeat
they have killed the symbol of the kingdom
the inheritance will not pass on
they have made of incest an image of horror
words do not sacrifice themselves before the mirror
but merely return to the dead
Mortality is canonized
the brothel of God
a paradise of lust suspended on the cross
death is an immortal courtesan
they have made of your dreams an alchemy
they have put to rest the echoes of the contra bass
they have placed yearning on a funeral pyre
The overture to the opera has ended
now disinherited the patriarch of the universe
something has happened in the song’s rebellion.
from Life Without a Name
47)
It is forbidden to crown a metaphor with thorns
so the crest of the poem will not be crushed
by the tanks of victory
-there is no glory-
Voice accompanies our nature
This:
the splendor and fatality of freedom.
from Life Without a Name
48)
The shadow can come
From beauty or from horror
I´ve said nothing new
Not about this sky
that no longer is the same
nor about this earth
that is breaking down
nor about those human beings
that go on copulating
loving and exterminating one another.
from Life Without a Name
53)
My body, repression´s seal,
without the habits of love
My being at play beyond time and space
I have felt the unnameable
drop anchor
pursue me like a compass
(I founder in my stomach´s cave)
Acid nature will not metastasize
An empty wave
consumes complacency
You celebrate endless death
Stripped of all victory you approach the encounter
you appear dazzling and divine
Like the vision of a prophet.
from Life Without a Name
65)
The reality of death in me
is something like the impossibility
of seeing myself in the mirror
Almost like insomnia
Like a dream without a dreamer
a dreaming without sleep
an image without a sound
a mind incompatible
Or in the worst of cases
with no one who speaks
with no one who listens
Carmen´s body: hers, mine, me)
-ours-
from Life Without a Name
69)
Nothingness: speculations on death
The void: repetition of anguish
The other: the will to not be
Pleasure: pure suffering
(They sustain the desire not to die)
Cruelty: the eros of living
Corpse: odor of the earth
Ideal: a killer signaling the enemy.
translated by Alexis Levitin
Untitled
This they made of my body:
a convent of dreams
confessional of sensuality
chalice of sex
deadly host
prayer of pleasure
bible of orgasm
apostle of desire
unconfessed sinner
failing of thought
word or deed
origin of creation
unforbidden word
profane will
exodus from the other exodus
psalm of many tales
something to sing of desire.
Untitled
The great boulder holds up the prophet of defeat
they have killed the symbol of the kingdom
the inheritance will not pass on
they have made of incest an image of horror
words do not sacrifice themselves before the mirror
but merely return to the dead
Mortality is canonized
the brothel of God
a paradise of lust suspended on the cross
death is an immortal courtesan
they have made of your dreams an alchemy
they have put to rest the echoes of the contra bass
they have placed yearning on a funeral pyre
The overture to the opera has ended
now disinherited the patriarch of the universe
something has happened in the song’s rebellion.
from Life Without a Name
47)
It is forbidden to crown a metaphor with thorns
so the crest of the poem will not be crushed
by the tanks of victory
-there is no glory-
Voice accompanies our nature
This:
the splendor and fatality of freedom.
from Life Without a Name
48)
The shadow can come
From beauty or from horror
I´ve said nothing new
Not about this sky
that no longer is the same
nor about this earth
that is breaking down
nor about those human beings
that go on copulating
loving and exterminating one another.
from Life Without a Name
53)
My body, repression´s seal,
without the habits of love
My being at play beyond time and space
I have felt the unnameable
drop anchor
pursue me like a compass
(I founder in my stomach´s cave)
Acid nature will not metastasize
An empty wave
consumes complacency
You celebrate endless death
Stripped of all victory you approach the encounter
you appear dazzling and divine
Like the vision of a prophet.
from Life Without a Name
65)
The reality of death in me
is something like the impossibility
of seeing myself in the mirror
Almost like insomnia
Like a dream without a dreamer
a dreaming without sleep
an image without a sound
a mind incompatible
Or in the worst of cases
with no one who speaks
with no one who listens
Carmen´s body: hers, mine, me)
-ours-
from Life Without a Name
69)
Nothingness: speculations on death
The void: repetition of anguish
The other: the will to not be
Pleasure: pure suffering
(They sustain the desire not to die)
Cruelty: the eros of living
Corpse: odor of the earth
Ideal: a killer signaling the enemy.