From THE NEW WORLD

By Yaxkin Melchy

Translated by Ryan Greene

 

Poems from THE NEW WORLD appear bilingually in Poetechnics (out now with Cardboard House Press!)
and Word Heart (forthcoming in 2023 from Toad Press!)

 

 

 

LIFE IN THE ABYSS

III 
Taxonomy

 

Genera, black holes, the abyss generates new genera, into which enter animals who adapt to the pressure,
become blind, become luminous, because they survive on light
Light appeared in the abyss, appeared in their hearts like blood and the animals stretch out and grow
transparent
They are afraid, they scatter in the face of the vastness blanketing the abyssal space, ever more dispersed
in their diffusion they call out their names, attempt to reach one another, travel in groups
No one knows about their lives, no one knows anything at all, they ride on the backs of the hot-water
horses, cut off from the sun
Unknown nomads, the submarine shines, their soft and luminous hearts surprise us
The animals of the abyss salvage the sea snow, they are the last to eat, “we didn’t know they existed,”
dirty as though caked with cold water, dirty as though caked with black sand, dirty as though caked with stains
dirty like dirty cities
dirty like dirty specks
. ..              . ..      .        .        .      .       .      .       .        .                      .
they paint the water

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IV  
Volcanic eruptions

 

I wake up
I grow in the veins of the departed heart
I want to reach it
but I don’t see its body
I see the memory
but it’s already a far-off horse on the horizon of days
forever distant in the sad hollow memory of coffins

and this abyssal country rises up
the depths of the sea rise up
the oceanic hills rise up
the dorsal fins rise up
the dark buildings rise up
they follow the water-horse and my eyes see
the ocean’s marine umbilicus
luminous water-flower
and all of us blind animals
grow as we make our way to the surface

The animals emerge from the waves
and on the shores the wave-tossed suns
breathe
on the shores of the day emerging from the sea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SIX ELECTRONS

 

The future is a womb
Tradition puts down roots
Grows like a spiral
Flowers
Life’s cycle is a field
Carbon is an elemental notion of poetry.

WE WILL REALIZE THAT IT’S ALL A MUTANT CONTINUUM

8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s ç ç ç ç ç ç ç c c c c c c c c c

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BOOKS IN THE UNIVERSE
to my father 

 

 

 

 

 

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000000000000000000000001101110 01110100 00100000 01101000 01100101 01100001 01110010
000000000000000000000001110100 00100000 01110000 01101111 01100101 01101101

 

 

 

0000000000000000000000Read accompanying digital “transfluxions” of these last three poems here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LA VIDA EN EL ABISMO

III

Taxonomía

Géneros, hoyos negro, el abismo arroja nuevos géneros, en ellos entran los animales que se amoldan a
la presión, se hacen ciegos, se hacen luminosos, porque sobreviven de la luz
La luz apareció en el abismo, apareció en los corazones como sangre y los animales se transparentan y
se alargan
Temen, se dispersan ante la vastedad que cubre las superficies abismales, cada vez más separados en
expansión dicen sus nombres, intentan alcanzarse, viajan en grupos
Nadie sabe de sus vidas, nadie sabe nada, viajan en las espaldas de los caballos de agua caliente,
alejados del sol
Nómadas desconocidos, el submarino alumbra, nos sorprenden los blandos y luminosos corazones
Los animales del abismo recuperan la nieve del mar, son los últimos que comen, “no sabíamos que
existían”, sucios como embarrados de agua fría, sucios como embarrados de arena negra, sucios como
embarrados de manchas
sucios como ciudades sucias
sucios como puntos sucios
.  ..                   . ..        .           .           .           .           .
pintan el agua

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IV

Erupciones volcánicas

 

Despierto
crezco en las venas del corazón que se ha ido
quiero alcanzarlo
pero no veo su cuerpo
veo el recuerdo
pero es ya un caballo lejano en los días
lejano en la memoria triste y hueca de los ataúdes

y este país abisal se eleva
se eleva el fondo del mar
se elevan las colinas oceánicas
se elevan las dorsales
se elevan los edificios oscuros
siguen al caballo de agua y mis ojos ven
el ombligo marino del océano
flor luminosa de agua
y nosotros animales ciegos
crecemos rumbo a las superficies

Los animales salen de las olas
y en las costas los soles arrojados
respiran
en las costas del día que emerge del mar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SEIS ELECTRONES

El futuro es un vientre
La tradición enraíza
Crece como una espiral
Flores
El ciclo de la vida es un campo
El carbono es una noción elemental de la poesía.

NOS DAREMOS CUENTA DE QUE TODO ES CONTINUACIÓN MUTANTE

8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s ç ç ç ç ç ç ç c c c c c c c c c

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LIBROS EN EL UNIVERSO

a mi padre 

 

 

000000000000000000000001110000 01101111 01100101 01101101 01100001 00100000 01100100
000000000000000000000001100101 01101100 00100000 01100011 01101111 01110010 01100001
000000000000000000000001111010 11110011 01101110 00100000 01100110 01101001 01110010
000000000000000000000001101101 01100001 01101101 01100101 01101110 01110100 01101111

 

 

 

0000000000000000000000Read accompanying digital “transfluxions” of these last three poems here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yaxkin Melchy Ramos (Mexico City, 1985) is a Mexican and Peruvian-Quechua poet, translator, ecopoetics researcher, bookmaker, and artisian-activist-editor. He is the author of THE NEW WORLD, a five-part “constellation-book” which was written intermittently between 2007 and 2017. Currently, he is a post-doctoral student at Tsukuba University in Japan, where he is researching ecopoetic currents between Japan and Latin America. Since 2017, he has been translating contemporary Japanese poetry to Spanish, and currently he runs the artisanal press Cactus del viento, which focuses on ecological, spiritual, and transpacific poetics. He also publishes on his personal blog, Flor de Amaneceres.  Photo Credit: Asahiko Omiya

Ryan Greene (b. 1994) is a translator, book farmer, and poet from Phoenix, Arizona who is currently working with Yaxkin Melchy to translate the first three books of THE NEW WORLD. He is co-conspirator at F*%K IF I KNOW//BOOKS and a housemate at no.good.home. His translations include work by Elena Salamanca, Claudina Domingo, Ana Belén López, Giancarlo Huapaya, and Yaxkin Melchy, among others. Since 2018, he has co-facilitated the Cardboard House Press Cartonera Collective bookmaking workshops at Palabras Bilingual Bookstore. Like Collier, the ground he stands on is not ground. Photo Credit: Ryan Greene

 

Poesía en acción is an Action Books blog feature for Latin American and Spanish poetry in translation and the translator micro-interview series. It was created by Katherine M. Hedeen and is currently curated and edited by Olivia Lott with web editing by Paul Cunningham.