María Clara Salas

Born 1947 in Caracas.  Lives in Catia on the coast and teaches at the Open University in Caracas.  Books of poetry: Dibujos de la Sombra, 1977; Linos, 1988; Un Tiempo Más Bajo los Arboles, 1991; Cantábrico, 2003. The sense of moral self-responsibility, can be found in her work, she believes ("the critics say it's an anachronism") that "the source of poetry is the fullness of life - the harmony of the cosmos - above evil and want".

Spanish Text

SPIDER

very often
my head is left hanging
like a spider in its web

it knows it won't fall
because the thread of its thoughts
is holding it

space in its web gets bigger and bigger
the house full of dust
hides the light
no one comes near
a propitious disorder
reigns

and my head swings in the air

 

THE HOUR THAT SHOULD HAVE BROUGHT YOU

the hour is coming empty-handed
I've been watching it for some time

it's coming in the night
spilling out of the dark

the hour that should have brought you
stands in front of me dumb
still
as a rock

 

DUST

star dust reaches us
from the boundaries of seven universes

yet before we make any move
we hedge our bets

faithful to law
perennial disciples of deadly reason
we wander through more and more
acute silences

we force our way into shadows
and protected by the oldest teachings
are saved from falling

we lose our lives a thousand times
because after all
long ago
we gave them up for dead

 

HILLS

time turns in its prison
slowly flowers decay
the light lets fall everyday sounds and silences
inside things the breeze stirs

how can believers fly from their home ground
they'll want to put off the moment of leaving
none of them remembers paradise

it's hard to imagine hills greener than these

the earth is beginning to heat up

falling suddenly
fruits
explode

 

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