Give me your hand. We have to crossthe river and my strength fails me.Hold me as if I were an abandoned packagein a wicker basket, a lump that movesand cries in the twilight. Cross the riverwith me. Even if this time the watersdon’t part before us. Even if this time Goddoesn’t come to our aid and a flurry of arrowsriddles our backs. Even if there is no river. MoisésDame la mano. Hay que cruzar el ríopara llegar al otro lado, y sientoque las fuerzas me faltan. Cógemecomo si fuera un bulto abandonadoen un cesto de mimbre que se muevey que llora a las luces del crepúsculo.Cruza el río conmigo. Aunque sus aguasno replieguen su cauce ante nosotrosesta vez. Aunque Dios no nos asistay una nube de flechas acribillenuestras espaldas. Aunque no haya río.
Moses
Feature Date
- June 19, 2022
Series
- Translation
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English Copyright © 2022 by Gustavo Pérez Firmat.
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission.
Prolific and multifaceted, Luis Alberto de Cuenca possesses one of Spain’s most distinctive poetic voices. As a self-described “pop poet,” he explores the expressive resources of the conversational register by making use of a variety of materials: comic books, cartoons, Hollywood movies, slang, urban culture. Perhaps more than any of his contemporaries, Cuenca has been a major influence on younger Spanish poets. In 2015 he received the National Poetry Prize for his book, Cuaderno de vacaciones. From 1996 to 2000 he was the Director of Spain’s national library and in 2021 won the prestigious Federico García Lorca International Poetry Prize.
A writer and scholar, Gustavo Pérez Firmat is the David Feinson Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. He has published several books of poetry in Spanish and English, including Sin lengua, deslenguado and Bilingual Blues. His books of literary and cultural criticism include Life on the Hyphen, Tongue Ties and Saber de ausencia.
Winter 2022
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Louisiana State University
Co-Editor & Poetry Editor
Jessica Faust
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