Language: Spanish
Poet: Roberta Iannamico
Translator: Alexis Almeida
Region: Argentina
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everything is allowed
Four poems by Roberta Iannamico, translated from Spanish by Alexis Almeida
Narcisa
El recuerdo de mi mama
¡Narcisa!
frente al espejo diciéndose
¡cómo me quiero!
¡cómo me amo!
y pasándose besitos
de la punta de los dedos
a uno y otro cachete
¡qué linda sos gracielita!
(con vos se rompió el molde)
y siempre al final
mi cara
junto a la suya
en el espejo.
Narcisa
The memory of my mother
Narcisa!
in front of the mirror saying
I love myself!
I adore myself!
and blowing herself kisses
from the tips of her fingers
to each cheek
you’re so beautiful Graciela!
(with you the mold was broken)
and always at the end
my face
next to hers
in the mirror.
La Cama
Si es cama grande
una madre
puede ser aristocrática
o humilde madraza
si está revuelta
todo es permitido
a todos hospeda
recién tendida y con sábanas limpias
es un sobre
soy la carta
cierro los ojos
y me envió
The Bed
If it’s a big bed
a mother
maybe humble
or aristocratic
if it’s messy
everything is allowed
everyone invited
clean sheets and recently made
it’s an envelope
I’m the letter
I close my eyes
And I’m gone
Giganta
Había una mujer acostada
boca arriba
en el medio del campo
una mujer desnuda
del tamaño de un cordón de sierras
desde la ruta se la veía
bajo el sol de la mañana
tenía el pelo largo
extendido
sobre el pasto
me la imagine de noche
bajo las estrellas.
The Giant
There was a reclined woman
facing up
in the middle of a field
a naked woman
the size of a mountain range
from the road you could see her
under the morning sun
she had long hair
extended
over the grass
I imagine her at night
under the stars.
Lágrimas
Bienvenidas lágrimas
Al fín
Algo sale de adentro mío
Algo que verdaderamente soy
Agua
Sal
Es un manantial
Agua que hidrata el alma
Agua que calma
que rebalsa por los ojos
nuestras ventanas
por la nariz
doble puerta principal
están baldeando la casa allá adentro
que reluciente quedará.
Tears
Welcome tears
finally
something comes out of me
that is something of what I am
water
salt
it’s a spring
water that hydrates the soul
water that calms me
that pours through the eyes
and our windows
through the nose
the double front door
they’re rinsing the house
it shines.
Roberta Iannamico lives in Villa Ventana, Argentina. She has published several books of poetry, including El zorro gris, El zorro blanco, Mamuskhas, El collar de fideos, Tendal, and several books for children. Her poems have been translated into English and Portuguese. She co-directs Maravilla Press, and for the past eighteen years has worked actively on cultural programming for the Macedonio Fernandez Public Library in Villa Ventana.
Alexis Almeida grew up in Chicago. She is the author of the chapbooks I Have Never Been Able to Sing (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2018) and Things I Have Made a Fiction,which was recently the winner of the Oversound Chapbook Prize. Her first full-length book, Caetano, is forthcoming in 2025. She teaches at the Bard Microcollege at the Brooklyn Public Library and Pratt Institute, and edits 18 Owls Press.
