Ulalume González de León

SEÑALES    ROTAS    RECOBRADAS

a veces
el ademán de asir se rompe en ti o en mí 
para no desembocar en el ademán de soltar

(entonces las manos eligen
otra manera de ser manos:
por ejemplo    la de apretar al pájaro
que vuela en otra parte)

o en ti o en mí una palabra retrocede
se demora en su antes de silencio
para no desembocar en su después de silencio

(entonces mi voz y tu voz dan la palabra 
a la voz que conjuga sólo en presente:
la voz de tus-palabras-y-las-mías)

o nace una mirada que no llega nunca al otro
o que lo cruza sin verlo como a un vano
hacia un fondo en fuga

(entonces el ojo recoge la no-imagen
sin fechas    sin colores
y la guarda en un siempre transparente)

Trans. by Nancy J. Morales, John Johnson,
and Terry Ehret

SIGNALS BROKEN RECOVERED

sometimes
the motion of reaching stops short in you or in me
so that it doesn’t lead to the motion of letting go

(then our hands choose
another way to be hands:
for example holding the bird
that flies somewhere else)

either in you or me a word retreats
lingers in its pre-silence
so that it doesn’t empty into its post-silence

(then my voice and your voice give way
to the voice that combines only in the present:
the voice of your-words-and-mine)

or a glance is born that never ever reaches the other
or that crosses without seeing the other, like a space that opens
toward a vanishing depth

(then the eye picks up the non-image
without dates without colors
and keeps it in a transparent forever)

Ulalume González de León was born in 1928 in Montevideo, Uruguay, the daughter of two poets, Roberto Ibañez and Sara de Ibañez. She studied literature and philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris and at the University of Mexico. While living in Mexico in 1948, Ulalume became a naturalized Mexican citizen. She married painter and architect Teodoro González de León, and together they had three children. She published essays, stories, poems, and worked with Mexican poet and Nobel Laureate Octavio Paz as an editor of two literary journals, Plural and Vuelta. She also translated the work of H.D., Elizabeth Bishop, Ted Hughes, Lewis Carroll, and e.e.cummings.

In the 1970s in Latin America, González de León was part of a generation of women writers challenging the traditional identities of women, marriage, and relationships. Her poetry earned her many awards, including the Xavier Villaurrutia Prize, the Flower of Laura Poetry Prize, and the Alfonso X Prize. Ulalume González de León died in 2009 of respiratory failure and complications of Alzheimer’s. 

Nancy J. Morales, a first-generation American of Puerto Rican parents, earned her bachelor’s degree from Rutgers College, a master’s in teaching English as a Second Language from Adelphi University, and a doctorate in education from Teachers College at Columbia University. She has taught at Dominican University, College of Marin, Sonoma State University, and other schools, from elementary to graduate levels. Currently she is a board member for the Northern California Chapter of the Fulbright Alumni Association and teaches Spanish to private clients.

John Johnson’s poetry has appeared in many print and online journals, including Boxcar Poetry Review, Clade Song, Triggerfish Critical Review, and Web Conjunctions. He is a long-time student of the Spanish language and has studied letter-press printing with Iota Press of Sebastopol, producing chapbooks and bilingual broadsides.

Terry Ehret, one of the founders of Sixteen Rivers Press, has published four collections of poetry, most recently Night Sky Journey from Kelly’s Cove Press. Her literary awards include the National Poetry Series, the California Book Award, the Pablo Neruda Poetry Prize, a nomination for the Northern California Book Reviewer’s Award, and six Pushcart Prize nominations. From 2004–2006, she served as the poet laureate of Sonoma County where she lives and teaches writing.