Translations
Mate burilado
by José WatanabeTranslated from Spanish by Michelle Har Kim
The monkey’s figure
is remarkably inscribed
upon the entire roundness of the wild squash.
Wit
of the sierra
has placed a folk flute at its mouth.
Happy world of the monkey
who makes itself comfortable as if inside a belly,
as if in an egg, and with music.
It rolls
around every corner of my house
like a rattle
and some nights it finds me and whispers:
make yourself round.
The world around me is so sparse
and life has no form.
At my age, I must say,
I could want for less, I ought
like the monkey
to make my body at home
in just a few of my cute little things.
