Poem

Juana Adcock

Audio Side by side

VESTIGIAL

OVERBLIJFSELEN

Reikend naar elkaar
         over de afstand nader bepaald
door nieuwe overheidsrichtlijnen
     verre herinneringen vasthoudend aan
bruggen, de gaten tussen
      armen heengeslagen om onze eigen
lichamen, ogen dicht om te streven naar
   nabijheid. Welke van onze ledematen
zullen in onbruik raken, nu
   vogels in het vroege voorjaar
beginnen te zingen, een liedboek
   dat ons overvaart over winter-
rook van de stationsschoorsteen
   haast massief tegen de nacht
en condensatie op ramen
   die spreekt van warmte uitgewisseld
als sporen uit andere tijden
   toen zulke schatten achteloos
werden verspild

VESTIGIAL

Reaching out to each other
                       over the distance specified
by new government guidelines
                    holding onto distant memories of
bridges, the gaps between
                         arms wrapped around our own
bodies, eyes shut to emulate
                            closeness. What limbs of ours
will fall into disuse, now that
                                the birds begin their tune
in early spring, a book of hymns
                                 ferrying us across winter
smoke from the station chimney
                          almost solid against the night
and condensation on windows
                           revealing the warmth exchanged
as vestiges from other times
                when such treasures were heedlessly
squandered

Commissioned by The Alasdair Gray Archive and Strathclyde University Creative Writing Department

Juana Adcock

(Mexico, 1982)

Erasures, evasions and the dialogue which bridges these are key to the poetics of poet and translator Juana Adcock. Frequently multilingual – working between English and Spanish, as well as occasionally Italian, Scots and Greek – her dreamlike texts often examine the violence of geopolitics and the gendered body but counter this with a fierce independence and a surprising sense of humour.

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