Three Poems by Benito del Pliego
They lie who claim they’re free and no one holds their reins.
I’ve heard it said there are unmastered horses, but I think about
their riders.
The Horse:
(Augusto Monterroso)
–“They lie who claim they’re free and no one holds their reins.
I’ve heard it said there are unmastered horses, but I think about
their riders.
And the rider, who nails your shoes to your hooves and
saddles you, brings to your flanks the boots that spur him on.”
The Spider:
— “The web is all-encompassing memory and brings everything
to itself, holding it in and trapping it. What grazes the edge also
touches the center.
You repeat your pattern and when you try to vary the template,
you relapse, because none is better than the one that binds you.
Only an acrobat can escape; the acrobat, who risks his life as he
endangers the lives of others.”
The Fly:
— “What’s emphasized is virtue and conviction. ‘You insist
on your ruin and find your salvation’– as a poet said.
We accept hunger and cold, but dissatisfaction stabs us
through the heart.
A miserable little world, desire transforms it into glorious
honey: it provokes us and quenches us, and it buries us.”
Benito del Pliego is a poet, researcher, and professor. He has published six poetry books, and his research interests include contemporary Spanish and Latin American poetry and literature. He also has studied migrations and exile in the Spanish-speaking world.
Forrest Gander, born in the Mojave Desert, lives in California. A translator and multi-genre writer with degrees in geology and literature, he’s the recipient of numerous awards, among them the Pulitzer Prize, the Best Translated Book Award, and fellowships from the Library of Congress, the Guggenheim, and United States Artists Foundations. His recent book, Twice Alive, focuses on human and ecological intimacies.
