Cleofé Campuzano’s Poetry
Translated by Jonathan Simkins
OBJECTS
These things eye me
like a flaw in the fabric
like a bath without water.
These things watch me
and their utilitarian distance to the truth
is much more capable
much more than we can
ever fathom or intuit.
The arm dangles from the seat
and drops into malnourished gravity,
the veil cleansed and lived in the same stroke:
alveolus of intimacy . . .
or that telltale vestige of the spirit
that pauses in its mask.
OBJETOS
Esas cosas me ven a mí
como error en el tejido
como baño sin corriente.
Esas cosas me observan
y su distancia utilitaria con la verdad
es mucho más capaz
mucho más de lo que alcancemos a pensar
de lo que alcancemos a intuir.
El brazo que pende del asiento
y se deja caer en gravedad desnutrida,
la cortina lavada y vivida al mismo tiempo:
alvéolo de la intimidad . . .
o esa huella identitaria del espíritu
que se detiene en su máscara.
Jonathan Simkins is the translator of El Creacionismo by Vicente Huidobro (The Lune, forthcoming); the translator of The Treasure of the Llanganates (PUMAEDITORES, 2017), a play by Paúl Puma; and the author of two chapbooks of poetry. His translations have appeared in The Carolina Quarterly, The Chattahoochee Review, Gulf Coast, Nashville Review, Western Humanities Review, and others.
Cleofé Campuzano Marco (Murcia, Spain, 1986) completed postgraduate studies at the University of Murcia and the University of Zaragoza. She is the author of El ocho de las abejas (Devenir, 2018). Her work has appeared in La Galla Ciencia, Empireuma, El coloquio de los perros, Círculo de Poesía, Oculta Lit, and others. She currently resides in Lleida where she conducts research and works as an educator and curator of contemporary art.