[The Present]

There is always iced tea in the fridge

and out of date vocabulary lists. Beautiful

autumn is here, and soon snow will cover

the handrails. In December we will rent mail 

boxes, and order all the gifts.

It’s good to see you depart…

A girl yawns and then another. I give

each one a story that coincides with her appearance.
At noon I go out to ask the gypsy ladies for rosemary,

shake out the table cloths, light the fire places

while the organizers

ask themselves

if they can allow so much dance.

Some sympathetic nerve to send me a signal

when I should laugh, and someone to make decisions

for me that affect my sense of smell.

I ask you for a minute of shame.

The topic is up to you.

Translated by Curtis Bauer

[The Present] is from Un huésped panorámico [A Panoramic Guest] (Barcelona, DVD Ediciones, 2010).

You can read and listen to the poem in the original Spanish here.