White Poem
for Han Kang
Would it be okay
if I took hold
of your gauze-covered verses
and cradled my memories?
if I looked with your eyes
at each drop of time falling
like beads composed
of several blades
and aimed at that enormous block of ice
with its angular curves
in a bluish hue?
I saw differently when I saw
through your eyes
and felt uncomfortably whole
when I invaded your diaphanous body.
I know I’m reckless in walking
toward something
I haven’t yet experienced
but which I sense
as if I’ve always known about you.
Now I know it’s not true
that time and pain stain
and destroy
all things,
all memories.
immersed in all the whiteness possible,
I will breathe your next breath
like someone who has never shattered
nor been shattered,
and I will inhabit in silence
our little island of light.
________________________________________________________________________
Libraries
Translated by Fabio Durand
Borges’ father’s library
was the most important fact in his life.
He never left it, he said.
I never had any books in my house.
The most important fact in my life
is not having had a father.
My mother was my library.
She taught me everything.
I never left it.
She was illiterate and should have
been called Alexandria.
Edson Cruz was born in Ilhéus, Bahia, Brazil. He has published 13 books, including poetry, essays, prose, and children's books. He edits the literature website Musa Rara www.musarara.com.br.