Translation

By ANANDA LIMA

I wait and weigh the odds
of me being who feeds
and feeds and scrolls through
feeds feeding on grey

matter de eu ser um ser que come
supported by skeleton feeding on
feeds que se alimentam de massa
cinzenta made of carbon as all living

things sustidas por esqueletos
com suas espinhas vertebrais
feitas de carbono como todos os seres
vivos como a coluna central do lápis

the ribless spine of pencil
lead pure carbon
os miolos cinzentos dos lápis
or graphite and clay

carbono puro eu
ser que navega e se alimenta
de grafite e argila de chance
de espera de caminho

 

Ananda Lima’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in The American Poetry Review, Poets.org, jubilat, Colorado ReviewRattleHayden’s Ferry ReviewHobart, and elsewhere. Her chapbook Translation won the Vella Chapbook Contest and will be published by Paper Nautilus in 2019. She has an MA in linguistics from UCLA and is a fiction MFA candidate at Rutgers University-Newark. Lima has taught at Montclair State University and UCLA and currently teaches undergraduate creative writing at Rutgers.

[Purchase Issue 17 here.]

From the beginning, The Common has brought you transportive writing and exciting new voices. We are committed to supporting writers and maintaining free, unrestricted access to our website, but we can’t do it without you. Become an integral part of our global community of readers and writers by donating today. No amount is too small. Thank you!

Translation

Related Posts

A photograph of leaves and berries

Ode to Mitski 

WILLIAM FARGASON
while driving today     to pick up groceries / I drive over     the bridge where it would be  / so easy to drive     right off     the water  / a blanket to lay over     my head     its fevers  / I do want to live     most days     but today / I don’t     I could     let go of the wheel  

The Month When I Watch Joker Every Day

ERICA DAWSON
This is a fundamental memory. / The signs pointing to doing something right / and failing. Educated and I lost / my job. Bipolar and I cannot lose / my mind. The first responder says I’m safe. / Joaquin Phoenix is in the hospital. / I’m in my bedroom where I’ve tacked a sheet...

Image of glasses atop a black hat

Kaymoor, West Virginia

G. C. WALDREP
According to rule. The terrible safeguard / of the text when placed against the granite / ledge into which our industry inscribed / itself. We were prying choice from the jaws / of poverty, from the laws of poverty. / But what came out was exile.