ΑΠΑΓΓΕΛΛΕΙ Ο ΧΟΥΑΝ ΧΕΛΜΑΝ

JUAN GELMAN


MUJERES

decir que esa mujer era dos mujeres es decir poquito
debía tener unas 12397 mujeres en su mujer
era difícil saber con quién trataba uno
en ese pueblo de mujeres
ejemplo:

yacíamos en un lecho de amor
ella era un alba de algas fosforescentes
cuando la fui a abrazar
se convirtió en singapur llena de perros que aullaban
recuerdo
cuando se apareció envuelta en rosas de agadir
parecía una constelación en la tierra
parecía que la cruz del sur había bajado a la tierra
esa mujer brillaba como la luna de su voz derecha

como el sol que se ponía en su voz
en las rosas estaban escritos todos los nombres de esa mujer menos uno
y cuando se dio vuelta
su nuca era el plan económico
tenía miles de cifras y la balanza de muertes favorables a la dictadura militar
nunca sabía uno adónde iba a parar esa mujer
yo estaba ligeramente desconcertado
una noche le golpeé el hombro para ver con quién era
y vi en sus ojos desiertos un camello

a veces
esa mujer era la banda municipal de mi pueblo
tocaba dulces valses hasta que el trombón empezaba a desafinar
y los demás desafinaban con él
esa mujer tenía la memoria desafinada

usté podía amarla hasta el delirio
hacerle crecer días del sexo tembloroso
hacerla volar como pajarito de sábana
al día siguiente se despertaba hablando de malevich

la memoria le andaba como un reloj con rabia
a las tres de la tarde se acordaba del mulo
que le pateó la infancia una noche del ser
ellaba mucho esa mujer y era una banda municipal

yo
compañeros
una noche como ésta que
nos empapan los rostros que a lo mejor morimos
monté en el camellito que esperaba en sus ojos
y me fui de las costas tibias de esa mujer

callado como un niño bajo los gordos buitres
que me comen de todo
menos el pensamiento
de cuando ella se unía como un ramo
de dulzura y lo tiraba en la tarde


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WOMEN

to say that this woman was two women is saying nothing
she must have had some 12,397 women in her woman/
it was difficult to know who I was dealing with
in this nation of women
for example:

we were lying in a bed of love
she was a dawn of phosphorescent algae
when I went to embrace her
she turned into singapore full of howling dogs
I remember
when she appeared wrapped in agadir roses
she seemed like a constellation come to earth
seemed like if the southern cross had come to earth
this woman shone like the moon with her clear voice

like the sun had set in her voice
on the roses were written all this woman’s names except one
and when she turned around
the nape of her neck was an economic plan
showing thousands of figures and the balance of the dead in favour of the military dictatorship
no one ever knew how far this woman was going to go
i was a little disconcerted
one night i tapped her on the shoulder to see who i was with
and i saw a camel in her vacant eyes

sometimes
this woman was my town’s municipal band
she played lovely waltzes until the trombone started to get out of tune
and the rest got out of tune with it
this woman’s memory was out of tune

you could love her to the point of delirium
make her grow through days of trembling sex
make her flap like a fledgling made of sheets
the next day she’d wake up talking about malevich

memory encircled her like an angry clock
at three in the afternoon she remembered the mule
that on one night of her life kicked her infancy
this woman was many things and she was a municipal band

she was devoured by all the ghosts whom she could
feed with her thousands of women
and she was an out of tune municipal band
disappearing through the shadows of the little plaza in my town

i
my friends
on a night such as this when
our faces were drenched and when perhaps we were dying
climbed up on the little camel that was waiting in her eyes
and i departed the lukewarm shores of this woman

silenced like a child beneath the greedy vultures
that eat everything i give them
except the memory
of when she came together like a bouquet
of gentleness which she threw one afternoon.


Translated by J. Tennant.