Nicole Cecilia Delgado
Translated from the Spanish by Urayoán Noel
 

how does the body get to where the world
has told it not to travel?

Robin Myers
 

¿cómo llega el cuerpo a donde el mundo
le ha dicho que no viaje?

Robin Myers
Water of night, fired up sea, photovoltaic cell
we are. Cosmic creature that never figured out
its place in the universe. We're breathing in light
and tomorrow we too will shine.





Agua de la noche, mar prendido, célula fotovoltaica
somos. Criatura cósmica que no decidió nunca
su lugar en el universo. Estamos respirando luz
y mañana también nosotros brillaremos.

 
*

 
What does light sound like at night
and underwater?
what is the cry of a school of sardines?
how much does a skinny horse weigh?





¿Cómo suena la luz de la noche
y bajo el agua?
¿cómo grita una escuela de sardinas?
¿cuánto pesa un caballo flaco?


*


You, island sea, killer of language.
Island iguanas evolve dffierently.
Time of islands and stars.

Twisted song of memory,
who were we before daybreak?





Mar de las islas que matas el lenguaje.
Iguanas de las islas evolucionan distinto.
Tiempo de las islas y los astros.

Retorcida canción de la memoria,
¿quiénes éramos antes del amanecer?


*


(2000):
Meteor shower in Monte Carmelo


(2015):
Avalanche of Perseids in Cayo Tierra.


(timeless):
Shoal of dinoflagellates in Esperanza.


The past and future
stare at each other and smile.





(2000): / Lluvia de estrellas en Monte Carmelo.
(2015): / Avalancha de Perseidas en Cayo Tierra.
(sin tiempo): / Cardumen dinoflagelado en Esperanza.
El pasado y el futuro / se están mirando y se sonríen.


 
*



incandescence / iridescence / bioluminescence

The Esperanza pier glows at night, that's why we dove off
Esperanza. All our bodies slathered in light, learning from
the maker of light. In the sea there are animals that carry
fire inside. Their name is unpronounceable. So we're simply
moons, iridescent skin, melting in a sea of light.





incandescencia / iridiscencia / bioluminiscencia

El muelle de Esperanza brilla de noche, por eso nos fuimos a tirar
de la Esperanza. Todo el cuerpo untado de luz, aprendiendo de
quien sabe hacer la luz. En el mar hay animales que llevan dentro
el fuego. Su nombre es impronunciable. Entonces somos simples
lunas, piel iridiscente, derretida en mar de luz.
from the book ADJACENT ISLANDS / Ugly Duckling Presse
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This poem appeared in Delgado’s artist book "subtropical dry" (La Impresora, 2016), which was written in Vieques during the itinerant seminar SONIDO VIEQUES (2015). The island municipality of Vieques, east of the main island of Puerto Rico, is known for its bioluminescent bay and for its use as a U.S. Navy bombing range. The U.S. Navy withdrew from Vieques in 2003, after years of grass roots protests that "subtropical dry" memorializes and documents through the materiality of the artist book.

Urayoán Noel on "bioluminescence" / "bioluminiscencia"
Color headshot of dg nanouk okpik
Iñupiaq-Inuit Poet Receives Windham-Campbell Prize

dg nanouk okpik is one of eight recipients of the $175,000 prizes for literary achievement. "The committee said her 'lapidary poems sound the depths of language and landscape, shuttling between the ancient past and imperilled present of Inuit Alaska in a searching meditation on ecology and time.'" Fellow poet Alexis Pauline Gumbs also received the prize for her “luminous, visionary poetry."

via THE GUARDIAN
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Cover of the issue of the journal Epiphany, in which "Rat" first appeared
What Sparks Poetry:
Karen Leona Anderson on "Rat"

"To write vermin is to ask then who makes them faceless and liquid, seething, scheming, malicious, too much, over and over; who feeds them and then turns away, repulsed. (Was it me? Of course.) It’s to ask who is at home, inside; who is outside. Why vermin are women’s fault and their shadow, their shame and their labor, how making vermin is so much work to do and undo and who that work is for."
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This April, to celebrate National Poetry Month, we'll share popular writing prompts from our "What Sparks Poetry" essay series each morning. Write along with us!
 
Think of a scene that could appear in your life, one that is plausible but one that people who aren’t you wouldn’t necessarily think of or believe. Create a persona to inhabit that scene, one that looks and sounds like you, but one that’s fundamentally different—perhaps meaner, more assertive, or brave. What does that persona do that you’d never do? What does that persona say that you’d never allow yourself to say? What does that persona enable in yourself? 
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