Rafael Ayala Paez
Poems of Rafael Ayala Paez
Translated by Emanuel Xavier
Meditation in winter
The rain is an animal inside my body.
Its skin sketches itself on to my skin
and on the northern extreme of the sky I watch her being born.
The rain notes musical,
hypnotizes the fear the pain
fraying its edges
now comes the peace.
Copyright c 2013 by Emanuel Xavier.
Meditacion en invierno
La lluvia es un animal dentro de mi cuerpo.
Su piel se dibuja en mi piel
y en el extremo norte del cielo la veo nacer.
La lluvia nota musical,
hipnotiza el miedo el dolor
deshilachando sus bordes
ahora viene la paz.
Copyright c 2013 by Rafael Ayala Paez.
Always on the threshold
Fear is a strange country.
A fish that rises from the depths
to the surface of my senses
eclipsing them.
Fear asphyxiates the words,
I could only hear them inside of me.
Nameless place
where neither the echo of my voice
can be heard.
Copyright c 2013 by Emanuel Xavier.
Siempre en el umbral
El miedo es un pais extrano.
Un pez que sube desde las profundidades
hasta la superficie de mis sentidos
eclipsandolos.
El miedo asfixia las palabras,
sýlo las puedo escuchar dentro de mi.
Lugar sin nombre
donde ni el eco de mi voz
puede ser oido.
Copyright c 2013 by Rafael Ayala Paez.
Biographies:
Rafael Ayala Paez, of Zaraza, Venezuela, is a graduate of Universidad Nacional Experimental Simýn Rodrýguez (UNESR). Founding member of the Municipal Writers Network of Zaraza. His poems have been published in El caracol de espuma, the literary supplement Letras Ccs of the newspaper Ciudad Caracas, in the journal Negro sobre Blanco, in La Revista Azahar (Spain), in Isla Negra and Argenpress (Argentina). His poems have been translated into German, English and French. His published book include: Bocados de silencio (2012) and El libro de los dias.
Website: http://Rafaelayalapaez.weebly.com
Emanuel Xavier, of Brooklyn, is a poet, novelist and translator. He has published: Mariposas: A Modern Anthology of Queer Latino Poetry (2008), Christ Like (2009), If Jesus Were Gay & other poems (2010), Me No Habla With Acento (2011), and Pier Queen (2012).
Visit this author's homepage at http://Rafaelayalapaez.weebly.com
Twish Mukherjee0
Bird's Eye-View
Look below.
Faint music rises, crawls up the high-rise,
scraping against the glass panes
of closed windows, until
the window that opens into a bedroom
where the man and the woman engage
in hot debate about the weather
and breathe sick affection into the sheets
to be washed away the next day.
The tramp occupies the pavement
for the warmer part of the day
when he knows his hat will save him
from old friends from school
who march to certainties every day,
cursing the realist and the romantic
with equally withered enthusiasm
and equally energetic doubt.
The cars are playing hide-and-seek
red and blue and yellow and green
waiting for a touch of a fair and fleshy palm
waiting for tears, laughs, screams, and calm,
waiting all day in mesmerising motion
along a stiff woollen cardigan.
All of them will welcome death,
their gods be condemned to live.
Look below.
Copyright c 2013 by Twish Mukherjee.
Biography:
Twish Mukherjee is a young filmmaker from India who made his debut feature Nothing Unusual in 2013. He designs a children's monthly called The Little Messenger. He writes the most when he is bankrupt.