De cuerpo

Cuerpo de hombre, morenos riscos, brazos morenos me pareces más que como te presentas al cielo. Mi cuerpo de esfuerzo te ví en la niebla y te hace parecer salvaje sobre la calma que está antes de mis ojos.

Fui solo como un reflexión. A mí peleaban las gaviotas

y en mí la mañana empezaba irrumpir, pero la tierra era en una nube, y con mis ojos te creaba como los cerros eran creando, y como las piedras grises eran,

y como cayeron ellas al agua de la misma gris.

Ahora, huyó la niebla, y no te conozco más. Cuerpo de hierbas, de espuma, de peñas húmedas y fuertes! Ah tus uñas de madera! Ah tu pecho de arena! Ah la realidad de su cara! Ah tu voz profundo y en calma!

Cuerpo de hombre no mío, presentaté a mí! Mi esperanza, mis ojos, mi ignorancia! Resplandor solar de alba sin oscuro donde te vives, y donde sonríes tu, y hago yo una mueca.

*****

Body of man, brown cliffs, brown arms, you appear to me more than what you show the sky. My body of effort sees you in the fog and makes you wild within the calmness in front of my eyes.

It was only like a reflection. The seagulls always attacked me

and the morning always began to burst within me, but the land was in a cloud and my eyes created you time and again like the hills were created, and like the grey stones were,and like the stones always fell to water of the same grey.

Now, the cloud has fled, and I don't know you any more. Body of grasses, of foam, of boulders wet and strong! Oh, your nails of wood! Oh, your chest of sand! Oh, the reality of your face! Oh, your voice deep and calm!

Body of man who isn't mine, show yourself to me! My hope, my eyes, my ignorance! Sun burst of dawn without darkness where you live, and where you smile, and I grimace.

***** I wrote this poem while my ship was anchored in Valparaīso, Chile. One of Neruda's homes (La Sebastiana, or the house in the air) is now a museum in the city. I walked uphill, alone from the port to visit the house. I bought a copy of 20 poemas de amor y una canción desesperada in Spanish, which i translated using my own American-educated Spanish and the assistance of a shipmate, who was from Chile and had particular insight into the language Neruda wrote with. I then translated several of the poems through my queer body, writing in my non-native Spanish which I then translated into English. The project attempts to interpret Neruda, address my position as an American interloper/interpreter, and face my romance addiction head on. The project was started in 2017 and is ongoing as of this writing, April 2021*****