Two poems by Etel Adnan, from the poem collection A primaveira florece de seu
Parte 1
The morning after
my death
we will sit in the cafeterias
but I don't
I will be there
I will not be
*
It had been the great death of the birds
the moon was consumed with the
fire
the stars were visible
until noon
Green was the soaked forest
with shadows
the paths were winding
A redwood stood up
soa
with his slender, enlightened body
unable to follow the
cars they passed with
frenzy
A tree is always an immutable one
traveler
The moon darkened at dawn
the mound shuddered
with anticipation
and the ocean was in double shadow:
the blue of its surface with
blue of the flowers
mixed in horizontal waterways
there was a breeze to
witness the time.
*
The sun darkened in the
fifth hour of the
day
the beach was covered with
conversations
the hairs began to fall into the holes
and the waves came in like
horses.
*
The moon darkened on Christmas Eve
the angels ate lemons
in lighted churches
there was a blue carpet
planted with stars
over our heads
lemonade and war news
they competed for our attention
our breathing was warmer
with the hills.
*
There was a great slaughter of
spring leaf rocks
of streams
the stars showed completely
the last king of the hill
gave battle
and they killed him
We lay down on the grass
covered the dried blood with ours
bodies
the green leaves swayed between the
our teeth
*
We went out to sea
A bank of whales was heading to the
Sur
A young man among us a hero
tried to ride one of the carts
sea creatures
his body emerged like a puddle of mud
like mud
we said goodbye to his remains
happy not to have to bury him
in the early hours of the day
We got drunk at a bar
the small town of Fairfax
he had just gone to bed
the cherries bent under the
weight of its flowers:
they were wrapped in a ceremonial
dance to which no one
he had never been invited.
*
I know the flowers to be funeral companions
they make poisons and poisons
and they eat abandoned stone walls
I know the flowers shine brighter
with the sun
its eclipse means the end of the
times
But I love flowers for their betrayal
their fragile bodies
they adorn the avenues of my imagination
without his presence
my mind would be a grave
unmarked
*
We encountered a great storm at sea
He looked back at them
rocky cliffs
the sand was sinking
black birds were
leaving
the storm ate friends and enemies
same as
water converted to salt for
my wounds
*
The flowers end in frozen patterns
the artificial gardens cover
the floors
we approached midnight
seek with powerful lights
the smallest shrubs of the
prairies
A stream runs desperately towards him
the ocean