Passing Through
It’s a night of maps stacked one on the other.
But the other one,
the one that dwells in the company of permanent dispute
releases its vapours into the virulent air.
Harsh and impatient
is the night in these parts,
like a cement aura
in the damp boundaries
of a wound.
A chaotic urban grid
fixates my brow.
Arida crosses the Sirensʼ
dark hour
and rusty,
smoke
groans toward true north.
The streetlights extinguish their darkness
in hope of news.
Some lips tear apart,
rusted trumpets
open a hole
for indecent light.
Go as you please, deformed angel of the hour,
to fracture the drums
of complicity.
Come here, angel of the deaf rearguard,
to this brief refuge
where the cannon
dreams your old eyelids.
Come here, arm of the night,
salty arm of darkness that sings
to celebrate this living beast.
De Paso
Es una noche de planos superpuestos.
Pero el otro,
el que mora entre la disputa permanente,
libera sus vapores al aire ponzoñoso.
Cruda e impaciente
la noche en este sector,
como un aura de cemento
en los húmedos límites
de una herida.
Un caos de cuadrantes
obsesiona mi frente.
Arida cruza la hora
oscura de las sirenas
y el humo,
herrumbroso,
se queja de norte a norte.
Los faroles apagan su tiniebla
en espera de noticias.
Se rasgan unos labios,
trompetas de óxido
abren un hueco
para la luz indecente.
Acude, ángel deforme de la hora
a quebrar los tambores
de la complicidad.
Ven, ángel de la sorda retaguardia
a este refugio breve
donde el cañón
sueña sus párpados mayores.
Ven, brazo de la noche,
brazo salado de la oscuridad que canta
a celebrar a esta bestia viva.
Matthew Byrne is a writer and translator living in the San Francisco Bay Area. He holds an MA in sociology from the University of California, Riverside. His work has appeared in Guernica, The Brooklyn Rail, Truthout, and other outlets. His translation of Róger Lindo’s Infernal Splendour and Other Poems is forthcoming from Izote Press in late Spring, 2022.
Róger Lindo is a Salvadoran poet and journalist most famous for his writing in Los Angeles-based publication La Opinión, the largest Spanish-language newspaper in the United States. He is the author of one collection of poetry, Los infiernos espléndidos (1998), and two novels: El perro en la niebla (2008) and La isla de los monos (2016).