Teleclitoridians
Her hand is riveted
to the end of her right arm
just like her mother’s and grandmother’s
the same wingspan, I’d say
about eight centimeters
as she soars across the frothy skies of pleasure
above a field of black bushes and pearls.
She lifts her hand
and with five copper wings salutes the infinite
so splendidly it goes
that even the glances of the weary fisherman
stretched out by the pier
do not reach her heights
Téleclitoridiennes
Ella tiene una mano atornillada
al final del brazo derecho
como la tuvieron su madre y su abuela
diríase la misma envergadura
casi ocho centímetros
al recorrer los cielos espumosos del placer
sobre un campo de perlas y matorrales negros
Ella alza la mano
y saluda al infinito con cinco alas de cobre
tan espléndida va
que no la alcanzan al vuelo las miradas
del exhausto pescador
echado junto al muelle
from Gasterópodo, Ediciones El Humo, 2014
translation: Kim Jensen
Dr. Kim Jensen is a writer, poet, translator and educator, whose books include a novel, The Woman I Left Behind, and two collections of poems, Bread Alone and The Only Thing that Matters. Active in transnational peace and justice movements for decades, Kim’s work has been featured in Another Chicago Magazine, Electronic Intifada, Mondoweiss, Extraordinary Rendition: Writers Speak Out on Palestine, Gaza Unsilenced, Bomb Magazine, Sukoon, Mizna, Revista el Humo, The Baltimore Sun, Left Curve, Liberation Literature, among others. In 2001, she won the Raymond Carver Award for short fiction; her novel was shortlisted for the Forward book prize. She teaches writing at the Community College of Baltimore County, where she founded the Community Book Connection, an interdisciplinary literacy and cultural initiative that demonstrates the vital connection between classroom learning and social justice issues in the broader community.
Marisol Vera Guerra is a writer, editor, and writing teacher who has published books in Mexico, United States, and Italy; the most recent are: El cuerpo, el yo y la maternidad, poesía para desactivar patrones establecidos (Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, 2022), Otras mujeres como lobas (Jade Publishing, 2022), and Si la muerte se enamora de mí (Letras en la Frontera, 2021).. She won an International Poetry Prize in Altino, Italy, 2020; the Francisco Javier Estrada Binational Short Story Award, Brownsville, 2023. She has been published in national and international anthologies, including Nelle Stanze di Alice, Italy, 2023. Nelle Stanze di Alice (Supernova, Italy, 2021); Poesía de puertas abiertas (Malpaso Ediciones, Honduras, 2021); Parkour (Malpaso Ediciones, Honduras, 2020); Parkour Pop.ético (Secretaría de Educación Pública, DGESPE, 2017) and Soñando Cantando, forthcoming from Trinity University Press. Her work appears in magazines such as Círculo de poesía, Armas y letras, Punto de partida and on the web page of the Mexican Academy of Language. She directs the independent publishing house Ediciones Morgana and lives in Monterrey with her three children, Haku, Morgana and Latika, and her cat Tsáptsam.