Language: Spanish
Poet: Maricela Guerrero
Translator: Jack Rockwell
Region: México
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water on water that hastens and overflows
Three poems by Maricela Guerrero, translated from Spanish by Jack Rockwell
These poems are taken from the “Poemas de agua en agua” section of Maricela Guerrero’s 2022 collection A río revuelto. The poems operate formally much like their titular subject matter, foregoing punctuation in favor of a continuous stream of images, concepts, and actions that alternatively pool, eddy and rush the reader’s attention forward from moment to moment. Running through all of the poems is a collection of concept and word families: many different kinds of bodies and motions of water, lands that interact with water (swamps, wetlands, etc.), human constructs built to regulate the movement of water (dams, dikes, levees, etc.), cities and streets, friendships and relationships across languages and nationalities, and love and sexuality.
Without typical structuring marks like punctuation and the paragraph break, the reader is left on their own to divide the mass of text into discrete units of sense. Occasional intervention by the translator is required when differences in syntax between Spanish and English (mostly in the ordering of nouns and adjectives) would make a replication of the exact word order produce a phrase in English that was of a quite different register or meaning than the Spanish phrase. Maricela herself stitches together these conceptual families with elegance and grace, placing different kinds of bodies, actions, and behaviors in careful dances with one another throughout their flowing motion. I hope you are able to lose yourself a bit like I did in the overlapping syntagms of these translations.
—Jack Rockwell
Diques
Agua en agua se precipita y se desborda que tropieza y rompe diques presas es que no sabía el nombre de la tranca el muro lo que acota los límites el borde y el tanteo agua en agua que brota y golpea contundente las orillas y abre o estanca y es que no sabemos cuándo cómo o dónde ni si es la lluvia la noche desazón terrenos cenagosos limos fertilidad y orilla de humedales porque entonces nombres que se nos escapan fluyen hacia otros horizontes cultivos cauces rocas presas acantilados montes playas aluviones y fuertes vientos qué pasó que lo que no se llama ni nombre ni causa cauce río desviaciones hacia caminos en brechas en veredas agua que erosiona estanca que enceguece brota en los pulmones y en los ojos y precipita entonces como un miedo como un temblor como sí un poco de señales varias bravas de distancia y mareas que golpean qué pasó entonces si tú y tus manos dulces mansas en las voces y la risa y las palabras qué cambio de humores en traslado después del manatial de ojos suaves roces que desbordan qué pasó que en rápida y apresurada huida trastabilleos agua que desfluye y alienta formas inesperadas del desasosiego grutas aguas profundas mantos freáticos y desconocidos de incertidumbre y miedo rigores ceses vislumbro entonces basta de rigores mi bien baste y considero translados aguas en transvase baste pues en líquido humor palabras viste un corazón abierto entre tus manos.
Dikes
Water on water that hastens and overflows that crashes and breaks dikes high walls I didn’t know the name of the barrier the wall what encloses the limits the border makes the measure water on water that bursts and strikes overwhelming the shores and opens or seals off and it’s that we don’t know when how or where nor even if it’s the rain the night disquiet swamped mired lands fertility and the edge of wetlands because then names that escape us flow towards other horizons croplands riverbeds embankments stones steep hills beaches mudslides and strong winds what happened what is not called for what has no name nor cause nor course the river diverted onto paths breaches walkways water that erodes clams up that blinds bursts into lungs and eyes and plunges then like fear like a trembling as though a few signs varied threatening in the distance dizzy striking what happened then if you and your sweet hands calm on the voices and laughter and words what a change of mood in translation after the cool spring of smooth eyes soft that overflow what happened in the fast hurried flight stumbling water that spills and feeds unexpected forms of unease grottos deep phreatic aquifers unknown uncertain and fearful hardships stoppages that’s enough then of hardships my wellbeing is enough and I consider the waters transferred diversion is enough then in liquid humors words you saw a heart open in your hands.
Esto es lluvia
Esto es lluvia y esta una amistad esto es lluvia y esto saber pausar y resguardarse esto es lluvia y un encuentro suave lento y amistoso esto es lluvia y confianza y espacios de escucha esto es lluvia y cuidado serenidad y confidencia esto es lluvia esta mi mano orillas de una conversación que crece poco a poco esto es lluvia y aquella un águila real que anida en la ciudad esto es lluvia y aquella una conversación que pone pérgolas cubiertas buganvilias esto es lluvia y esto amistad que fluye suave y lenta en las orillas.
This is Rain
This is rain and this a friendship this is rain and this knowing pausing and protecting yourself this is rain and a soft encounter slow and friendly this is rain and trust and spaces for listening this is rain and care serenity and confidence this is rain and this my hand shores of a conversation growing little by little this is rain and that a royal eagle nesting in the city this is rain and that a conversation putting up covered trellises bougainvillea this is rain and this friendship flowing soft and slow on the shores.
Mañanas
Cuántas tantas veces si así en ciudaded conversaciones que se nos amanecen en los labio pláticas que manan dúctiles resbaladizas sí así andar andamos en ríos manatiales ciudades que nos abren alamedas y alimentos inusitados imágenes de la prosperidad frutos del mar bienvenidos que así sea que sea zarandeado que sea un ceviche sí así que sea conversaciones largas y felices que amanezcan en los labios en serenidad próspera zapatos de conversar y de fiestear que alternen sí así en amistad que conversa marcha y camina hacia los alimentos del mar si así que sea a las brasas sí así muy a la leña ¿sabe? decimos caminamos conversamos la maternidad será elegida o no decimos y sí así elegimos conversamos caminamos en nosotras en amistad fluyendo entre ciudades y ríos mares ciudades que nos abren avenidas cielos un tiburón de mike laure muchas veces si así póngala en repeat también la playlist de ya nos la sabemos amaneceres zapatos de caminar bailar y conversar cuántas tantas veces amistad amaneceres en los labios de ciudades que nos abren avenidas que elegimos zapatos de fiestar y conversar en marcha elegimos así será sí así cuántas tantas veces que digamos elegida o no será sí así frutos del mar decimos un ceviche camarones zarandeado rockefeller sí harto tiburón de mike laure cuántas tantas veces conversaciones que nos amanecen en los labios.
Mornings
How many times sí así in cities conversations that dawn on us our lips chats that flow flexible slippery sí así to walk we walk in rivers springs cities that open us avenues lined in trees and unfamiliar foods images of prosperity welcome fruits of the sea make it so make it shaken up make it a ceviche sí así make it long and joyful conversations that dawn from lips in thriving serenity shoes for talking and for the party let them alternate sí así in friendship that converses get up and go walking towards the seafood sí así put it on the coals real smoky—you know?—we say we walk we talk maternity we might choose it or not we say and sí así we choose we talk we walk ourselves in friendship flowing between cities and rivers cities and seas that open up avenues skies tiburón by mike laure again and again sí así put it on repeat and the playlist we already know dawns shoes for walking dancing and talking how many times does friendship dawn on the lips of cities that open us avenues that we choose shoes for the party and conversations while walking we choose so it will be sí así how many times will we say chosen or it will not be sí así fruits of the sea we say a ceviche shrimp shaking around the rockefeller sí stuffed mike laure’s tiburón how many times conversations that dawn on our lips.
Maricela Guerrero (Mexico City, 1977) is the author of nine poetry collections. El sueño de toda célula (Ediciones Antílope/Instituto Veracruzano de la Cultura, Mexico City, 2018) won the Clemencia Isaura Prize in 2018. Cardboard House Press has published her books Kilimanjaro, translated by Stalina Villareal, in 2018, and The Dream of Every Cell, translated by Robin Myers, in 2022. Guerrero is a member of Mexico’s prestigious SNCA (National System of Artists), and was a resident at the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program in Fall 2023. Her work has also been translated into German, Swedish, and French.
Jack Rockwell is a literary translator, writer and editor. His translation of Julia Kornberg’s Berlin Atomized is forthcoming from Astra House in December, 2024. Other work has appeared in North American Review, The Chicago Review of Books, Words Without Borders, and elsewhere. He holds an MFA in Literary Translation from the University of Iowa.
