Oraciones para un dios ausente / Martha Kornblith


three versions from Oraciones para un dios ausente (Caracas: Monte Avila Editores, 1995)

*

"Mi universo tematico"

My thematic universe
only encompassed
three meager phrases:
I think that you
say that I
say that he
thinks of me
in a bad way.

*

"La calle esta llena"

The street is full
and there's a woman
at the bottom of a room
weeping alone.

She loves a man
who writes theory.

She remembers that day
full of last goodbyes.

It's night,
and outside
I'm raining.

Because it's Friday,
December
and you're leaving.

*

"A veces"

At times
one must
return to memories
to annul memory,
annihilate vestiges,
other lives,
salute old links,
decapitate ancient papers,
stumble again,
so they come back to say
and not have,
not possess anything.