Um dia de outono cairão todas as folhas 
e na sua queda meus braços ficarão nus 
entre a folhagem morta, para quem saiba ver 
será revelada a minha sigilosa cegueira 
dois inúteis olhos de vidro marrom vazios 
como sementes chocas do meu percurso

Barren legacy

One autumn day, all the leaves will drop
and in its fall my arms will be naked
among the dead foliage, for the connoisseurs
my secret blindness will be revealed
two useless empty brown glass eyes
like rotten seeds of my whole journey

En dias como hoxe 
establecido no país do impás 
a vida ralentízase 
os golpes en sordina 
con cachaporras de xoguete 
o corpo constrúe cicatrices

Days like today

On days like today
settled in the country of impasse
life slows down
the blows with a muffler
of a toy bludgeon
the body builds scars

sometimes I'm a solid boulder
where you can firmly moor your boat
others, however, I am just bird droppings
washed away by rain
nothing that can be a foundation

sometimes I am a mighty deer
with impressive antlers
where to hang your wet clothes to dry
others just a flea among the dense fur
only useful for itself

no one ever said that being human
was this complete nonsense

"Ao pasar a segunda farmacia 
espérate papá debaixo da ponte" 
(para guiarte de volta a casa) 

non son quen de transmitir 
o orgulloso que estou deles
agora que tras tantos golpes 
comezo a superar a adolescencia

falamos do meu camiño de pedras
e o seu universo de familiares e amigos 
leccións para vivir no mundo 
que tanto me custa aprender

na despedida abrázoos forte
e da aperta destila unha substancia 
que se extende pola cociña, polo baixo 
e se queda tamén nos meus petos
para acompañarme alá onde vaia

Visit

"As you pass the second pharmacy
your dad waits under the bridge"
(to guide you back home)

I am not able to transmit
how proud I am of them
now that after so many blows
I'm starting to get over adolescence

we talked about my stone path
and their universe of relatives and friends
lessons for living in the world 
that I find so hard to learn

in farewell I hug them tightly
and from the squeeze a substance distils
which extends through the kitchen, the garage
and stays in my pockets too
to accompany me wherever I go

Abro o caixón da cociña tantos anos estático
e na austera curva dos cubertos silandeiros
nunha frecuencia só aos meus ouvidos accesible
deslízase un berro xordo de fracaso consumado

Cutlery voice

I open the kitchen drawer so many years static
and in the austere curve of the silent cutlery
at a frequency accessible only to my ears
a muffled cry of accomplished failure slips out

Mineral Talks

No seu futuro quixera 
ser fogueira ao fondo 
de paisaxe con chuvia
que os meus ósos de pau seco
lignificados en ardente combustible
quentasen a sua roupa mollada 
devolvendo así unha fracción 
da enerxía que o seu sorriso 
aportou nestes anos de soidade 
británica

Mineral talks

In her future I would like 
to be a bonfire in the background 
of a rainy landscape
that my dry stick bones 
lignified in burning fuel 
warmed her wet clothes 
thus returning a fraction 
of the energy that her smile 
brought to my years 
of British loneliness

na reunión diaria co equipo decateime 
que os tenis vermellos que levaba postos
compráraos en York
e os calcetíns grises en Manchester
os pantalóns cor tella en Pontevedra
e o xersei beixe en Nüremberg
en canto aos calzóns dun gris grafito 
a prenda máis nova que vestía
adquirina hai unhas semanas en Lisboa

ainda que o xurado non apreciara 
os meus cincocentos versos do exilio
mirei atrás e díxenme 
estou no sitio xusto
onde os meus soños me trouxeran 

the little worries

in the daily meeting with the team I realized
than the red sneakers I was wearing
had been bought in York
and the gray socks in Manchester
tile colored trousers in Pontevedra
and the beige sweater in Nuremberg
as for the pants of a graphite gray
the newest garment I had on
I bought it a few weeks ago in Lisbon

although the jury did not appreciate 
my five hundred verses of exile
I looked back and said to myself
I'm in the right place
where my dreams had brought me

Onde o poder da tribo non te protexe
lonxe da estreitura dos four walls
ou simplemente xusto por fora deles

erosionan as miradas desconfiadas
pois compartimos xénero inhumano
e temos medo do escuro 
do sucio, do ruidoso e inintelixible

ainda que en realidade non sexa
para nada escuro nin… ti xa sabes 
o que é estar só tentando bâtir un empire
e ter que ver como caen 
até as pedras máis sólidas

só fican as forzas inesgotáveis
e esta comprensión da nosa natureza
para que non doa 
o rexeitamento
tanto

Build an empire

Where the power of the tribe doesn't shield
away from the narrowness of the four walls
or just right outside of them

distrustful glances erode
as we share inhuman gender
and are afraid of the dark
of the dirty, the noisy and the unintelligible

although in reality it is not
not at all dark or... you know
what it is to be alone trying to build an empire
and having to see how 
even the most solid stones fall

only the inexhaustible forces remain
and this understanding of our nature
so that rejection
doesn't hurt
so much

One of my recent poems has been chosen by Flavio Almerighi for his Sunday verse selection in Italy.

This gives me a lot of encouragement to continue writing!

Thanks Flavio!

Gioielli Rubati 269: Melania Valenti – Mariangela Ruggiu – Nina Kossman – Abner Rossi – Ileana Zara – Abel Abilheira – Jean Marc Feldman – Fausto Torre.

Ha ser o estrés da mudanza 
que deixou aberta algunha barreira 
ao xirar no corredor 
entrando no baño 
no espello recén limpado 
amosouse con toda claridade 
o sorriso do meu pai 
e por fin vinlle a fonda sensibilidade 
que soubo tan ben ocultarnos

House move

It could have been the stress of moving 
that left some barrier open
when suddenly turning in the corridor
and reaching the bathroom
on the freshly cleaned mirror
it was shown with all clarity
my father's smile
and finally I saw his deep sensitivity
that he reached to hide from us