Cabin
Plasticity
around
the little dark
eyes
Departure
Plasticity
around
the little dark
eyes, calking
the idea
of guilt: there
is something
pathetic in
someone else’s
dreams, exists
like the reflex
of departure.
Untruths
The ground
lacks memory:
happiness
comes tonight
accidentally,
has a strange,
unrecognizable
sensual body:
its hand reaches
for her face
without guidance
without truth.
Return
The smell
of sea:
a decade later
no indent
on the mattress,
on the wood
that sustains
the bed:
he will say he
loves her
never loved her
loves her.
Flávia Rocha is a Brazilian poet, editor, and journalist. She holds an MFA in writing from Columbia University, and is the author of two poetry books, both published in Brazil, the bilingual A Casa Azul ao Meio-dia/ The Blue House Around Noon (Travessa dos Editores, 2005) and Quartos Habitáveis (Confraria do Vento, 2011). She is the editor-in-chief of Rattapallax, a literary journal based out of New York City featuring contemporary American and international poetry. Her translations from English into Portuguese of contemporary poetry often appear in literary magazines in Brazil. She currently lives in Portland, OR, with her husband and two young daughters.
