Sara Torres works at Autonomous University of Barcelona, where she teaches within the fields of literary theory and comparative literature, cultural and gender studies. MA in Critical Methodologies (Kings College London). Her doctoral project, supported by a research grant at Queen Mary University of London, is entitled: "The Lesbian Text: Fetish, Fantasy and Queer Becomings." With the book La otra genealogía (Madrid: Torremozas) she won the Gloria Fuertes National Poetry Prize. Conjuros y Cantos was published in 2016, edited by Krilller 71. In 2016 she obtained a residency scholarship at the Antonio Gala Foundation during which she wrote the unpublished novel Vida Mínima (special mention BFAG). Her latest book, Phantasmagoria, edited by La Bella Varsovia, appears linked to an aesthetic project developed with artist Marta Velasco Velasco.
perforar
abrir en el abdomen
como otro esfínter como otra boca
desde ahí
la puerta al mundo
y en el suelo
¿quién retorcida
con una langosta de tres pinzas
en la mano?
.
.
to perforate
to make an opening in the abdomen
like another sphincter like another mouth
from here
the world’s door
and on the ground
who is it twisting
with a three-clawed lobster
in her hand?
blanco era alucinación
mientras turba destila los restos
un cuerpo jamás existió erguido
fingía en la tarde antes del siguiente pliegue
su mitad de oruga acartonándose
almíbar cargado hasta tocar el agua
saludo. varias cabezas de lombriz
tras cortar la tierra
y con ella
el gesto. luego ya no
membrana a sus grietas
todo el cuero cabelludo al descubierto
hay que dejarlo ir
hay que dejarlo ir mientras se está ausente
no se puede justo parar a observar
como caen
uno a uno
no se puede justo sujetar la conciencia
hay que dejarlo ir
.
.
white was hallucination
while peat distills the remains
a body never existed erect
pretending in the evening before the following fold
its caterpillar-half stumbling
syrup charged until touching the water
a greeting. various wormheads
beyond cutting the earth
& with her
the gesture. then already not
membrane to its fissures
the scalp uncovered
you have to let it go
you have to let it go while you are absent
you cannot just stop to observe
as they fall
one by one
you cannot just subject the conscience
you have to let it go
la mano agarró un objeto
una urna. superficie picoteada por el óxido
si el deseo modula. y devuelve una imagen. y decide quedarse
decaerá embalsamada como ablanda
su mitad de larva
medio giro para allá…
la canción consistía
en un extraño tarareo
.
.
the hand grasped an object
an urn. surface pocked with rust
if desire inflects. and returns an image. and it decides to stay
it will decay embalmed as it softens
its lava-half
half turned over there
the song consisted
of a strange humming
viento cálido
humedad imposible de la arena
hay placer
porque no hay ansiedad
en esta emoción
.
.
hot wind
impossible humidity of the sand
there’s pleasure
because there’s no anxiety
in this emotion
cada vez que el miedo
abandona
parece una guerra ganada
en un pasado remoto
.
.
every time the fear
leaves
it seems as a war won
in a remote past
no hay enigma que resolver
se ha cancelado la búsqueda
¿así?
así
.
.
there’s no enigma to resolve
the search has been cancelled
like so?
like so.
es inútil comparar
si acaricio el flanco izquierdo
se quiebra hacia la derecha
pero si raspo el derecho
con el borde de la uña
pronto aparece inmóvil
sorprendida
si sube agita la cadera
busca hacia delante
mantiene la fuerza
en las clavículas
luego cae con el tórax
abierto
parece que se queja
en gemidos cortos
largamente
cubre con saliva
los soles de las palmas
se recoge en silencio
cargada de agua
pesada de aceite
escarabajo celeste
curvando la hoja
con las patas dobladas
es inútil comparar
si realiza
su potestad total movimiento
y baja el punto de equilibrio
y se extiende
y ceden las rodillas
¿qué era lo anterior
lo erguido
cómo se volvía?
¿acaso se volvía?
es inútil
recogió los restos de las nueces
al dejarlas caer sobre la losa
una manada de yeguas golpea la piedra
y se hunde en la arena
alguien estrecha su rienda
pero el cuerpo enlodado
y le corta la boca
comparar es inútil
.
.
it is useless to compare
if I caress the left flank
it cracks to the right
but if I scrape the right
with the edge of a nail
it quickly seems still
surprised
if rises shakes the hip
looks ahead
maintains the force
in the clavicles
then falls with the thorax
open
seems to complain
in short moans
lengthily
covers with saliva
the suns of the palms
retracts in silence
charged with water
heavy with oil
blue beetle
curving the leaf
with bent legs
it is useless to compare
if she reaches
her total potential for movement
and lowers the equilibrium point
and extends it
and yields at the knees
what was before
the erect
how did she return?
did she return?
it’s useless
she collected the remains of the nuts
to leave them dropped on the slab
a pack of mares strikes the stone
and sinks into the sand
someone narrows her reins
but the body is mired
and it cuts the mouth
to compare is useless
con la fuerza de ¿dos brazos?
sujeta ¿un hacha?
diente amarillo satén
consiste en dejarla caer
sobre el tronco
varias veces
se trata de
que el contacto con filo
provoque surco
se trata de
que la incisión del cuerpo
que avanza
sea más obcecada que el
deseo de la madera
por permanecer unida
así decimos
vencer es vencer
por obcecación
trayectoria y golpe
en la línea que adivina una fisura
así decimos
hacer del árbol pieza
de una pieza dos
de una pieza tres
luego astillas
serrín
ceniza
.
.
with the strength of, two arms?
holds, an axe?
yellow satin tooth
it consists of letting it fall
upon the trunk
several times
it’s about
the body’s cut
that advances
being more stubborn than the
desire of wood
to remain united
like that we say
to conquer is to conquer
by stubbornness
trajectory and blow
in the line that divines a fissure
like that we say
make the tree a piece
of one piece two
of one piece three
then splinters
sawdust
ash
alguien acerca un pan al fuego
después toma asiento
deja caer los brazos
a cada lado
una idea le obsesiona;
¿era un espino blanco
o un manzano?
¿qué diferencia había entre esto y otra cosa?
.
.
someone holds bread to the fire
then takes a seat
lets the arms drop
at each side
an idea obsesses her
it was a white hawthorn
or an apple tree?
what difference was there, between this thing and another?
Translations by : Madeleine Stack
Madeleine Stack is a poet and artist. Her long-form poem 'Portable Monument' was commissioned by the BBC in 2019 for national radio broadcast. Recent writing has been published in BOMB Magazine, aqnb, Another Gaze, Salt, un magazine and Doggerland. She is co-editor of Canal, a multilingual publication of poetry and politics, and her first novel, 'Vitrinerie', was published in 2017 by Nubile Press. Recent UK exhibitions, performances and readings include Institute of Contemporary Arts, The Koppel Project, LUX Moving Image, Peer Gallery, Gossamer Fog, and The Southbank Centre (all London), and Eastside Projects (Birmingham). She is currently studying to be a midwife and working on her second novel, 'World Peace'.
Translations by : Elliot C. Mason
Elliot C. Mason (he/him) is a poet, playwright and essayist, working as a writer and consultant for state schools in South London. His poems and essays have been widely published, including in 3:AM, MAGMA, SPAM, Review31 and Site Writing, and his plays performed at many London theatres. His first collection of poetry/essays, City Embers, is coming out with Death of Workers Whilst Building Skyscrapers press in March 2020, and his second, Materials for Building a City, is coming out with Marble Poetry at the end of 2020. His website is: https://pennydropscollective.org/
[renuncié a la ligereza … ] i got rid of lightness
i got rid of lightness
idiotic for wanting to live
with concrete memory, with narratives
my fetish is the archive
the plexus flattened me
asphyxiation in the chain of meaning
foolish for regretting choices
[oh no … ] oh no
oh no. i want no less. the apparatus holds
the recorded voice’s register. tonalities and
textures of voices, lightened by minor frustration. speak
about my body. about living this close to my body.
feed it. groom and braid it, flannel me.
the archive doesn’t lie. the cracks of pain still
open in her throat. i could have grazed
her, rubbing hard that night, and everything
about her would have shivered. maybe
it isn’t what i wanted. (wanted?) beside
me now, whichever way. i want the voice
gone forever. the sad voice of losing the
yearning voice and not her
[no sabiendo y de algún] neither knowing nor
neither knowing nor in any way prepared
to come, she comes. the idea is to cover the will
while flaunting. she’s sitting right beside
her by the patio and speaking hurriedly.
two who hardly know each other now begin
a journey [?] of another sort. there’s a tree
tangle-rooted in the coastal sands. that’s the scene.
polished shell on a cloth of blueish yarn. the territory
that resists opening into the next station tends […]
to be beside the territory where the will is dropped
at the door […;] a stranger sees [!+”] a body
rising to the rooftop [. .] she prepares herself
in the mirror [ - ] suppose she’ll have to remember
something [?] the way she looked … that’s it [//]
the music of the hand that rested on a thigh [<!] inci-
sion in the scenic ambiguity [))] the text that describes
relationships is absent [“”] patterns of [.] conduct [/*] so.
two who hardly know each other cross [/!] the night. .
by the next morning someone brings [&&]
a nectarine to bed . she cuts it with a little knife. and
offers it to the other
like that?
like that
[prender. no dejar] switch it on. don’t let
switch it on. don’t let a single ray slip away.
thought it was the last ray of all. come in and
don’t go or just go now. now. don’t keep appearing
on the other side. pressing knuckles up to wood. you bring
little flowers to an empty house. the nape of the desert
that burns all afternoon. the belt is always flexible in shock.
so get out. don’t leave juicy flesh on thirsty tongues. anymore.
you bring cotton buds bring river herbs. and all of it
for whom? what do you see. who’s looking at you. who
buries their fingers in you to say
sit down come on
yeah it’s weird
a lot like pain a lot like something else
something i have no word for
