Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Felipe García Quintero

Little by little silence has been filling up my soul with noises

    Little by little silence has been filling up my soul with noises,
with fearful footsteps like a wild beast chased by the trembling of
the heart sharpening its knife.

    It is the blind voice that keeps my eyes open.

    And —within myself— I think about that other sky waiting for me
outside the house: my heaven, the one that invents the rain on a
corner of the street.

    A sky of foul waters. Of drowned moon, cloudy, saved from
the mud by the hand of sleep.

    My sky of polluted waters, only in your flesh do my fallen teeth
shine more.

    Unexpected sky of winter rust, come fill my empty hands of a
blind person without touch with your body. My sky of a bird
without sky. Sky of womb water.

    My sky, deep as stone.

(1996)

Little by little silence has been filling up my soul with noises

    Poco a poco el silencio ha ido llenando mi alma de ruidos,
con pisadas temerosas como de fiera perseguida por el temblor del
corazón que afila su cuchillo.

    Es la ciega voz que mantiene abiertos mis ojos.

    Y —entre mí— pienso en el otro cielo que afuera de la casa
me espera: mi cielo, el que inventa la lluvia en un rincón de la calle.

    Un cielo de aguas podridas. De ahogada luna turbia, salvada
del lodo por la mano del sueño.

    Cielo mío de aguas podridas, sólo en tu carne brillan mis
dientes caídos.

    Cielo repentino de orín de invierno, ven a llenar con tu cuerpo
mis manos vacías de ciego sin tacto. Cielo mío de pájaro sin cielo.
Cielo de agua de vientre.

    Cielo mío, hondo como la piedra

(1996)
Close

Little by little silence has been filling up my soul with noises

    Little by little silence has been filling up my soul with noises,
with fearful footsteps like a wild beast chased by the trembling of
the heart sharpening its knife.

    It is the blind voice that keeps my eyes open.

    And —within myself— I think about that other sky waiting for me
outside the house: my heaven, the one that invents the rain on a
corner of the street.

    A sky of foul waters. Of drowned moon, cloudy, saved from
the mud by the hand of sleep.

    My sky of polluted waters, only in your flesh do my fallen teeth
shine more.

    Unexpected sky of winter rust, come fill my empty hands of a
blind person without touch with your body. My sky of a bird
without sky. Sky of womb water.

    My sky, deep as stone.

(1996)

Little by little silence has been filling up my soul with noises

    Little by little silence has been filling up my soul with noises,
with fearful footsteps like a wild beast chased by the trembling of
the heart sharpening its knife.

    It is the blind voice that keeps my eyes open.

    And —within myself— I think about that other sky waiting for me
outside the house: my heaven, the one that invents the rain on a
corner of the street.

    A sky of foul waters. Of drowned moon, cloudy, saved from
the mud by the hand of sleep.

    My sky of polluted waters, only in your flesh do my fallen teeth
shine more.

    Unexpected sky of winter rust, come fill my empty hands of a
blind person without touch with your body. My sky of a bird
without sky. Sky of womb water.

    My sky, deep as stone.

(1996)
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Ludo Pieters Gastschrijver Fonds
Lira fonds
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère