TE22 Potpourri

Impure Acts (poetry) Ángelo Néstore Translated from Spanish by Lawrence Schimel

Blaze

Like rearranging the furniture of one’s home, searching for some peace,

that’s how I prepare to burn the bridges that uphold everything I knew as manly. With my heart I was inflammatory, I stoked the flames, I illuminated the path for you, sat down to wait, but you didn’t come. And as the enormous building burned only I was able to see the light in the uncertain future of its ashes. I’ve honored my father until he became my intimate enemy and as a boy I always sat where I was supposed to, with my legs together, not toward either side. Now I’m the father who sets the table for two, although you’re not here, who every day scrubs your clean, unused plates.

Ángelo Néstore

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