That photo in black and white
Emma posed with her black
sequined dress
with make-up and can-cans
next to the television.
No one told her then
the future would be
a little house gown,
the noise of the news.
Just that.
100 Refutations | Poetry | Puerto Rico | Spanish
April, 2018Emma posed with her black
sequined dress
with make-up and can-cans
next to the television.
No one told her then
the future would be
a little house gown,
the noise of the news.
Just that.
Mara Pastor is a Puerto Rican poet, editor, and translator. Her works include the chapbook As Though the Wound Had Heard (Cardboard House Press, 2017, Tr. María José Giménez), Children of Another Hour (Argos Books, 2013, Tr. Noel Black), and the acclaimed collection Poemas para fomentar el turismo, finalist for the 2013 Premio Internacional Festival de la Lira in Ecuador. Other books in Spanish include Sal de magnesio (2015), Arcadian Boutique (2014), Candada por error (2009), and Alabalacera (2006). Her poems have been translated into more than six languages, and her work has appeared in publications such as Boston Review, 80 grados, Clarín, and El País. Her skill as a live performer of poetry has given her a place in renowned festivals such as Festival de Poesía de Rosario, Argentina; Latinale, Berlin (2016); Festival de la Palabra, San Juan (2015); Festival de la Lira, Ecuador (2015); La Habana International Book Fair, Cuba (2014); and Festival del Caracol, Tijuana (2013). Her poetry has been anthologized in 1,000 millones: poesía en lengua española del siglo XXI (2014), Red de voces: poesía contemporánea puertorriqueña (Casa de las Américas, 2012), and Hallucinated Horse: New Latin American Poets (Pig Hog Press, 2012). Coeditor of the anthology of Puerto Rican contemporary poetry Vientos Alisios, she was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and lives in Ponce, Puerto Rico.
María José Giménez is a Venezuelan-Canadian poet, translator, and editor working in English, Spanish, and French. Assistant Translation Editor for Anomaly (fka Drunken Boat), María José is a recipient of the 2016 Gabo Prize for Translation and fellowships from the NEA, The Banff International Literary Translation Centre, and the Katherine Bakeless Nason Endowment. Published translations include Edurne Pasaban’s memoir Tilting at Mountains (Mountaineers Books, 2014), Alejandro Saravia’s novel Red, Yellow, Green (Biblioasis, 2017), and a chapbook of poems by Mara Pastor, As Though the Wound Had Heard (Cardboard House Press, 2017). Learn more at mariajosetranslates.com.
Copyright (c) Mara Pastor. English translation copyright (c) María José Giménez, 2018.