Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Lauren Mendinueta

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

I insist on avoiding nothing
to live is to participate
Anyway is it not more sensible to choose from what you know?
I oppose servitude
Have I achieved it?
Subjected to another slavery
I am executioner and victim.
I accept it I prefer it
I recognize the hero’s grandeur
Oh glory! Oh victory! Oh wretched one!
The coin I carry in my hand
is a tiny mirror
Catching sight of myself ignoring my flip side
shadow hole
The head of the coin is beautiful
its outlined profile
its ugly flip side
It is not easy
to mold myself like a work of art fashioned by my own hand
If I renounce that other side of me
if I cast it off and let beauty triumph
then I would need to renounce my own self
I surprise myself
Isn’t this also a moral?
I renounce being
only that which is not
is built
Today infancy is a shudder
“all has been consummated”
In time
the coin will not last
The mirrors do not store the essence
the only immovable part
The fear of memory frightened away
there are too many paths for one face alone
My words
roam through the streets of the brimming city
eye of the needle
or driven spike of absence
Is this a useless sketch?
Premature punishment
of the very image.

BOCETO DE AUTORRETRATO

BOCETO DE AUTORRETRATO

Insisto en no esquivar nada
vivir es participar
¿Acaso no es más sensato elegir entre lo conocido?
Me opongo a la servidumbre
¿Lo he logrado?
Sometida a otra esclavitud
soy verdugo y victima
Lo acepto Lo prefiero
Reconozco la grandeza del héroe
¡Oh gloria! ¡Oh victoria! ¡Oh desdichado!
La moneda que llevo en la mano
es un espejo pequeño
Verme ignorando mi reverso
agujero de sombra
La cara de la moneda es hermosa
su perfil de rayo
su reverso feo
Formarme como una obra de mi propia mano
no es fácil
Si renuncio a esa otra parte de mí
si la desecho para hacer triunfar la belleza
entonces tendría que renunciar a mi misma
Me sorprendo
¿No es esta también una moral?
Renuncio a ser
sólo lo que no es
se construye
Hoy la infancia es un estremecimiento
“todo se ha consumado”
En el tiempo
la moneda no permanecerá
Los espejos no guardan la esencia
única parte inamovible
Espantado el miedo de la memoria
hay demasiados caminos para un mismo rostro
Mis palabras
ojo de aguja
o clavo de ausencia
vagan por las calles de la ciudad colmada
¿Es inútil este boceto?
Prematuro suplicio
de la imagen propia.
Close

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

I insist on avoiding nothing
to live is to participate
Anyway is it not more sensible to choose from what you know?
I oppose servitude
Have I achieved it?
Subjected to another slavery
I am executioner and victim.
I accept it I prefer it
I recognize the hero’s grandeur
Oh glory! Oh victory! Oh wretched one!
The coin I carry in my hand
is a tiny mirror
Catching sight of myself ignoring my flip side
shadow hole
The head of the coin is beautiful
its outlined profile
its ugly flip side
It is not easy
to mold myself like a work of art fashioned by my own hand
If I renounce that other side of me
if I cast it off and let beauty triumph
then I would need to renounce my own self
I surprise myself
Isn’t this also a moral?
I renounce being
only that which is not
is built
Today infancy is a shudder
“all has been consummated”
In time
the coin will not last
The mirrors do not store the essence
the only immovable part
The fear of memory frightened away
there are too many paths for one face alone
My words
roam through the streets of the brimming city
eye of the needle
or driven spike of absence
Is this a useless sketch?
Premature punishment
of the very image.

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

I insist on avoiding nothing
to live is to participate
Anyway is it not more sensible to choose from what you know?
I oppose servitude
Have I achieved it?
Subjected to another slavery
I am executioner and victim.
I accept it I prefer it
I recognize the hero’s grandeur
Oh glory! Oh victory! Oh wretched one!
The coin I carry in my hand
is a tiny mirror
Catching sight of myself ignoring my flip side
shadow hole
The head of the coin is beautiful
its outlined profile
its ugly flip side
It is not easy
to mold myself like a work of art fashioned by my own hand
If I renounce that other side of me
if I cast it off and let beauty triumph
then I would need to renounce my own self
I surprise myself
Isn’t this also a moral?
I renounce being
only that which is not
is built
Today infancy is a shudder
“all has been consummated”
In time
the coin will not last
The mirrors do not store the essence
the only immovable part
The fear of memory frightened away
there are too many paths for one face alone
My words
roam through the streets of the brimming city
eye of the needle
or driven spike of absence
Is this a useless sketch?
Premature punishment
of the very image.
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Ludo Pieters Gastschrijver Fonds
Lira fonds
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère