Florencia Castellano, Five Poems
Translated by Alexis Almeida
Monitored Property
from neighborhood to neighborhood
a father pulls his car out of the garage
and sings
the same in Olivos
in Quilmes or Colegiales
from block to block
a man with no gray hair
is looking for this type of father
who drives and sings
enough!
a moment in time
can become
late-breaking news
a panoramic view of the sidewalk
medium-sized house unpainted wall and door
garage with a zoom
on the paternal car
the rearview mirror captures perfectly
that repetitive gesture
the premeditation on the hunting trip
of the unpatented gun
the apparition of an unknown child
a cowboy that nods and puffs
his chest toward bullets
and a handsome revolver
“made in China”
all hail!
the gates of heaven also
fight themselves
to the death
same as provincial banks
and the dusty bars
of the Wild West
Keeping Ourselves Alert in the Battlefield
gold powder falls
over paternal hair
and the cuckoo clock
(a memento from a trip to Baden Baden)
from the kitchen wall
it declares:
fight!
like a souvenir
the rental contracts offer
a steady cable TV connection
but a mestiza is my reality
opaque
in the end we know
it’s not a gift if you pay
a banner frames the street
full of discrete lives
studies or jobs
with the omnipotence of the cosmos
the banner inaugurates
a whole new race
that believes
fervently in the present
and the certainty of not being able
to survive more avalanches
and they present a prayer
without pomp and ceremony
rigid
set as a cadaver
Tragedies and westerns
Aren’t what they used to be
the world is very quiet
ah!
say the men
is it over?
calm
silence
cicadas
After the Hoax the Tornado
in the middle of the oedipal parody
as in any kind of chaos
confusion becomes a tornado
it comes from the Caribbean
it’s name is Ángela
raging before the cowboy
it rises up
180 kilometer winds
uproots
cylindrical motors
fathers from the block
wall clocks
pedestrian signs
leather seats
treetops
pneumatic tires
tiled roofs
armored doors
cowboys
in a funnel shape
Ángela takes everything
my car in the eye of the storm
and inside it the father
now they’re gone
now they’re a metallic retina
like a free Big Bang
but in the doorway of a house
to start everything over again
with the feeling of leaving
through a locked emergency exit
The Chacarera of the cowboy and the dad
as if for a Chacarera
for months the cowboy in the dust
gesticulating with pistols and handkerchiefs
prepares himself in silence
the cowboy turns his head
the father turns his head
they eye each other curiously
while tracing a circle of footsteps
and the 184 bus passes
and the Southern Cross is a witness
to there being no music
or audience
that although they don’t know each other
they dance
the night prepares the confrontation
between the father and his prodigal son
the air becomes tense
bodes disaster
like a telephonic threat
and the 184 bus passes by
in the door of the garage
the shaking brings my father back
to San Juan
and the shattered family and the debris
it’s passed
he believed himself a singer
adored the law of Mogambo
but outside of the star system
there is struggle
according to him this is the concrete jungle
for the closing scene
the applauding hands will close
like pincers around his face
intending to capture a facial landscape
in a crystal ball
which you turn and deceptively
it changes
there are repercussions of the Fact
simultaneous to the fatal meeting
pieces of concrete hang
from the streets
Mogambo Takes Part in a Historical Fact
ever since the Fact more is known
for example
the doors of heaven are revolving doors
and giant receptacles like iceboxes in a freezer
from the slaughterhouses emerge
international cowboys
who lost everything
in the interior
and took to the wild streets
in search of auto parts
and fathers
the Fact requires
a fearsome familiarity with the supermarket
dozens of flat-screen televisions
cram the brick walls
spoken constructions
those Argentines represent something
according to Our Father
on the shoulders of the Panamerican highway kids read
daily special
we finish-off martyrs
at the unstoppable pace
of new windshields
one by one fathers
fall
bizarre droplets
on the foreheads of cowboys
apparent disappearance of the sacred oil!
no more patriarchs
if an oracle remains in this town
it spews
only one truth
that streak of sunflower oil
on the cowboy’s forehead
imitates sweat
but there was no communication with the Father
family ties yes but with leather
what a bloodline!
from a scarlet rock the historical Fact
hurls information
those chosen fathers
listened to Sinatra’s Voice
dreamed of being Mogambo
the conclusions will be unveiled
to the whole society
through blockbuster movies
thanks to the generous participation
of the airwaves
yesterday by certain requests
the official channel played MOGAMBO
all day
afterwards on the state network
the vice president speaks
Propiedad vigilada
barrio a barrio
un padre saca su auto del garaje
y canta
igual en Olivos
que Quilmes o Colegiales
manzana por manzana
un hombre sin canas
busca a esa clase de padres
que manejan y cantan
¡basta!
un segundo en el tiempo
para ser
noticia de ultimo momento
panorámica sobre vereda
casa mediana pared y puerta despintada
garaje con zoom
al auto paterno
el espejo retrovisor capta perfecto
ese gesto repetitivo
la premiditación en la boleada
del arma sin marca
aparición de joven desconocido
cowboy que cabecea y saca
pecho a las balas
y un revolver pintón
made in chaina
¡Salve!
las puertas del cielo también
se baten
a duelo
igual que las de bancos provinciales
y polvorientos bares
del Lejano Oeste
Manteniéndonos alertas en el campo de batalla
cae oro en polvo
sobre el pelo paterno
y el reloj cu cú
(un recuerdo del viaje a Baden Baden)
desde la pared de la cocina
anuncia
¡combate!
como souvenir
los contratos de alquiler traen
la incorporación de TV por cable
pero mi realidad es una mestiza
opaca
por ende sabemos
no es un regalo se paga
un pasacalles delimita un cuadrado
lleno de vidas particulares
estudios o empleos
con la omnipotencia de lo alto
ese pasacalles inaugura
toda una nueva raza
que cree
fervientemente en el presente
y la certidumbre de no poder
soportar más avalanchas
y presenta una oración
sin incienso ni fanfarrias
dura
homologada a un cadaver
Tragedias y westerns
Ya no son lo de antes
el mundo está muy quieto
¡ah!
dicen los hombres
¿ya no?
calma
silencio
chicharras
Después del engano el tornado
en el medio de la parodia edípica
y como en cualquier caos
la confusion se vuelve tornado
viene del Caribe
se llama Ángela
por furia y ante el cowboy
levanta
vientos de 180 kilómetros
arranca
motores cilindrados
padres de las veredas
relojes de las paredes
cartels peatonales
asientos de cuero
copas de árboles
ruedas neumáticas
techos de tejas
puertas blindadas
cowboys
con forma de embudo
todo se lo lleva Ángela
en el ojo del huracán mi auto
y adentro el padre
ya son pasado
ya son retina metálica
como el Big Bang gratis
pero en la puerta de casa
y a comenzar todo de nuevo
con un sentimiento de salida
de emergencia cerrada
Chacarera de un cowboy y un padre
como para una chacarera
hace meses el cowboy en el polvo
gesticula con pistolas y pañuelos
en silencio se prepara
gira la cabeza el cowboy
gira la cabeza el padre
se miran curiosos mientras trazan
un circulo de pisadas
y el 184 pasa
la Cruz del Sur es testigo
de que no hay música
ni publico
que aunque no se conocen
bailan
la noche prepara el choque
entre el padre y el hijo pródigo
tensa el aire
predispone mal
como amenaza telefónica
y el 184 pasa
en la puerta del garaje
el temblor retrotrae a mi padre
a San Juan
y la familia desparramada y los escombros
ya pasó
se creyó cantante
adoró la ley de Mogambo
pero fuera del star system
la lucha
según él esto es selva asfáltica
para cuando termine el acto
se cerrarán las manos que aplauden
como tenazas en su cara
con la intención de apresar un paisaje facial
en una bola de cristal
a la que das vuelta e ilusoriamente
cambia
hay repercusiones del Hecho en simultáneo
por el fatídico encuentro
pedazos de mompostería cuelgan
de las calles
Mogambo participa de un Hecho histórico
a partir del hecho se sabe más
por ejemplo
las puertas del cielo son giratorias
y cabedoras heladeras de frigoríficos
de los mataderos salen
cowboys internacionales
que lo perdieron todo
en el interior
y se lanzaron a las avenidas salvajes
en busca de autopartes
y padres
el Hecho cobra
una temible familiaridad de supermercado
decenas de televisores con pantallas planas
atiborran las paredes de ladrillos
construcciones oracionales
esos argentinos representan algo
según dicen Nuestro Pater
a los costados de la Panamericana los chicos leen
oferta seminal
rematan mártires
con el ritmo desenfrenado
de parabrisas nuevo
uno a uno de los padres
caen
gotas bizarras
en las sienes de los cowboys
¡evidente desaparición del oleo sagrado!
no más patriarcas
si en este pueblo queda un oráculo
eructa
una sola verdad
esa mancha de aceite de girasol
en la frente del cowboy
mimetiza el sudor
pero no hubo comunicación con el Padre
lazos sí pero de cuero
¡qué sangre!
el Hecho histórico desde un peñón colorado
arroja datos
aquellos padres seleccionados
escuchaban a La Voz
soñaban con ser Mogambo
las conclusions serán develadas
a la sociedad completa
a través de superproducciones cinematográficas
gracias a la participación desinteresada
de los canales de aire
ayer por pedido de algunos
el canal official emitió todo el día
MOGAMBO
luego por cadena nacional
el vicepresidente habla
Florencia Castellano was born in Buenos Aires in 1975. She graduated from the University of Buenos Aires and now teaches literature in high school and at the Universidad Di Tella. She was part of the editorial team for the magazines Quesquesé (1997-2001) and Ilusiones perdidas (2001). Between 2007-2009, she helped organize the Latin American Poetry Festival “Salida al Mar.” She helped edit the anthologies Quedar en lo cantado, Antología de poesía argentina y dominicana (El fin de la noche, 2009), and Un libro oscuro: 106 poemas negros (Bajo la luna 2010). She wrote the serial melodrama Satélite de amor for the magazine Maten al mensajero from 2014-2015. She published fragments of ¿Como usar antiparras? in the anthology El Grito de Medusa (I-Rojo, 2003). She has published two books with the press Imprenta Argentina de Poesía: Propiedades vigiladas (2005), and Un ruiseñor completamente blanco (2007).
Alexis Almeida’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in Prelude, Oversound, Jellyfish, H_NGM_N, Eleven Eleven, and elsewhere. She is an assistant editor at Asymptote. Her chapbook of poems, Half-Shine, is forthcoming from Dancing Girl Press, and her translation of Florencia Castellano’s Propiedades vigiladas is forthcoming from Ugly Duckling Presse. She is the recent recipient of a Fulbright grant, and is currently living in Buenos Aires.
Karen Wild Díaz was born in Montevideo, Uruguay. She studied philosophy at the University of Paris 8-Vincennes-Saint Denis, and is now an assistant professor at the University of the Republic. Her first book in English, Anti-Ferule (Toad Press, 2015) was originally published as Anti-Férula (2013, Buenos Aires: Editorial Itinerante; 2014, Niñobúho cartonera). Her poems have appeared in the Argentine anthology Hijas de diablo, Hijas de santo (2014: Niñobúho cartonera) and in English translation in Blue Lyra Review, Copper Nickel, and América Invertida: An Anthology of Emerging Uruguayan Poets. Karen practices contemporary dance and incorporates performance into her poetry presentations, and she blogs at 
Ron Paul Salutsky, a native of Somerset, Kentucky, is the author of the poetry collection Romeo Bones (Steel Toe Books, 2013), and translator for Anti-Ferule (Toad Press, 2015), from the Spanish of Karen Wild Díaz. His poetry, translations, fiction, and scholarship have appeared in Prairie Schooner, Colorado Review, Interim, Tupelo Quarterly, Narrative, Juked, John Clare Society Journal, Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism, Copper Nickel, and América Invertida: An Anthology of Emerging Uruguayan Poets. Ron lives in Ochlocknee, Georgia, and teaches at Southern Regional Technical College. Read more at 
Born in Salto, Uruguay, and raised on her family’s farm, Marosa di Giorgio (1932-2004) is one of the most prominent Uruguayan poets of the twentieth century. Di Giorgio began writing in her childhood and published her first book of poems at the age of twenty-two. She then went on to publish a total of fourteen books of poetry, three collections of short stories, and one novel. While some critics have categorized her as a surrealist, she herself denied membership in any literary movement or school. Although she was relatively unknown outside the Southern Cone during her lifetime, she is now becoming more and more widely read throughout Latin America and Europe. Thanks to the efforts of various translators, she is also becoming more known in the English-speaking world.
Jeannine Marie Pitas is a poet, teacher, and Spanish-English literary translator. She is the translator of Marosa di Giorgio’s The History of Violets (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2010) and I Remember Nightfall, a compilation of five books by di Giorgio forthcoming from Ugly Duckling Presse in Spring 2017. She is the author of two poetry chapbooks, and her first full-length poetry book, Things Seen and Unseen, will be published by Quattro Books in Fall 2017. She is currently Assistant Professor of Global Literature at University of Dubuque.
Uljana Wolf is a German poet and translator living in Berlin and Brooklyn. She has published four books of poetry, most recently SONNE FROM ORT (kookbooks), a collaborative erasure with Christian Hawkey, and meine schönste lengevitch. i mean i dislike that fate where I was made to where, a translation by Sophie Seita, was published by Wonder in Fall 2015, adding to the three English translations of her work: my cadastre (Nor By Press), false friends (Ugly Duckling Presse), and aliens, an island (Belladonna*). Wolf also translates English-language poets into German, among them John Ashbery, Christian Hawkey, Cole Swensen, and Matthea Harvey. She has received several awards for her poetry and translation, including the prestigious Peter-Huchel-Preis in 2006 for kochanie ich habe brot gekauft, from which these translations are drawn. She teaches German and poetry translation at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.
Greg Nissan lives in Berlin, where he’s working on a documentary poetry project as part of a Fulbright grant. His translations of Uljana Wolf have appeared in Asymptote, The Brooklyn Rail, and Two Lines. His poetry is forthcoming from Denver Quarterly and has appeared in Rogue Agent, Small Po
Ricardo Domeneck is a poet, short fiction writer and essayist, born in Bebedouro, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, in 1977. He has published six volumes of poetry: Carta aos anfíbios (2005), a cadela sem Logos (2007), Sons: Arranjo: Garganta (2009), Cigarros na cama (2011), Ciclo do amante substituível (2012) and Medir com as próprias mãos a febre (2015). His poems, short stories and essays have been published in magazines in Brazil and abroad, including Inimigo Rumor (Brazil), Babelsprech (Germany), Lyrikvännen (Sweden) and Samplekanon (Netherlands). His poems have been translated, included in anthologies of contemporary Brazilian poetry and published in Germany, the United States, Belgium, Spain, Slovenia, United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Sweden, Mexico and Chile. Working also with video and sound poetry, he has performed in galleries and museums such as Museo Reina Sofía (Madrid), Museum of Modern Art (Rio de Janeiro), Museo Experimental El Eco (Mexico City), Akademie der Künste (Berlin) and deSingel International Arts Campus (Antwerp), and he was among the poets and artists who prepared billboard-pieces for the Biennial of the Americas 2013, in Denver, Colorado. He has collaborated with Brazilian and German musicians such as Tetine, Markus Nikolaus (Lea Porcelain) and Uli Buder (Akia). A bilingual anthology of his poems was translated by Odile Kennel and released in Germany with the title Körper: ein Handbuch (Verlagshaus Berlin, 2013), and, in the Netherlands, with the title Het Verzamelde Lichaam (Uitgeverij Perdu, 2015), translated by Bart Vonck. His book Ciclo do amante substituível was translated into Spanish in its entirety by Aníbal Cristobo and published by Kriller71 Ediciones in 2014. Ricardo Domeneck lives and works in Berlin, Germany.
Hilary Kaplan is the translator of 
Javier Etchevarren was born in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1979. He is the author of the poetry books Desidia (Yaugarú, 2009) and Fábula de un hombre desconsolado (Yaugarú, 2014). His poems will appear in América invertida: An Anthology of Emerging Uruguayan Poets which is forthcoming from the University of New Mexico Press. His poems appeared or are forthcoming in Palabras errantes, American Literary Review, Blackbird, Notre Dame Review, the Colorado Review and Waxwing. His work has been featured twice on Poetry Daily. Fábula de un hombre desconsolado / Fable of an Inconsolable Man, translations by Jesse Lee Kercheval, is forthcoming from Action Books.
Jesse Lee Kercheval is a poet, fiction writer and translator, specializing in Uruguayan poetry. Her latest translations include Invisible Bridge/ El puente invisible: Selected Poems of Circe Maia (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2015) and Fábula de un hombre desconsolado / Fable of an Inconsolable Man by Javier Etchevarren, which is forthcoming from Action Books.
Alex Niemi is an English teacher in Russia. You can read some of her recent work in Dusie and Banango Street. Her translation of The John Cage Experiences by Vincent Tholomé is forthcoming from Autumn Hill Books.