Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Luis Eduardo Rendón

III

III 
Bell chimes update their nuns habits and car horns their clown costumes
elevators go from the Prehistory floor to the Apocalypse floor
typewriters on top of the pawn shops are embroiled in archaic soliloquies
slot machine fakirs exchange words with statues under the shadow of alcohol
gamblers play their last dynamite card
scaffoldings boast about their aerial status
shoes about their fraternal multiplicity of rhythms
brooms know how to get up early
fruit carts open furrows of fragrance amongst the passers-by
cloths wave bewitchingly to popsicle vendors on their bicycles
oyster bars and the young women who promote soaps brim with proteins
traffic lights rise totemically like phalluses on the sidewalks
red pyramids of apples stand in awnings moving like gondolas
lovers of all ages pass under ecstatic bridges
no one remains as firm and circumspect as the promiscuous building
timbre navel
or greets with as much refinement as the pianist sun of chlorophyll
the mountains distribute Buddhist manuals of air
lady tempests go into barbers shops with their lightning sons
then the cinemas are trains
airports are clover
temples are ships
electricity pylons archangels
fountains branch offices of Genesis
black taxis stealthy widows
bars floating trunks
shop windows virginal philosophers
families in metaphysical get-togethers are tailor’s shops
wet nurses with black milk printing houses
yoga sessions aquariums
psychic freight terminals drugstores
billiard balls are moons
hypnotic islets casinos
bats umbrellas
spiritualism centers theaters
rockets hotels
sumptuous hat shops clouds
from striptease joints emerge crystal orchids divers from other seas
from the open-air concerts rises a mushroom of music that touches the blinds of pensioners
Sunday comes on stilts
and in football stadiums goals rise to the level of the sun
the dodges of football players synchronize with the acrobatics of the swallows
a gang of ambulances directs from a Varese terrace
Bach enters the glassware shops with a harpsichord of fog
in the popsicle carts sounds Für Elise by Ludwig van Beethoven
Stockhausen comes out of the hardware store dressed in frills
Van Gogh takes sacks of the best wheat to the poor quarters
Villon drinks the wine of the parishes
Picasso hangs a gangway from nose to nose
Hans Arp releases his self-winding watches on the obituaries
and many artists throw a fête that’s an effete sieste in the octet of the florets
suddenly the park benches are filled with tickets for merry-go-rounds
merry-go-rounds where children see a country full of metallic colors
then the newspapers of the shoeshine boys are transformed into carrier pigeons
high voltage cables into staffs with arpeggios of swallows
telephone booths into lifeboats
traffic signs into hieroglyphs
and even policemen seem inoffensive grasshoppers
clinics are marble carriages driven by the dying
in the high electronic clocks one reads the messages of missing persons
in the nomenclature of a building with a lightning rod is the winning
lottery number
and in a succession of graffitied walls one reads the monologue of a dragon
a dragon coming down from the chain of mountains since the cities began…

III

III

III 

Campanadas le ponen al día su hábito de monja y los pitos de los carros su vestido de payaso
los ascensores trabajan desde el piso Prehistoria hasta el piso Apocalipsis
máquinas de escribir en las cimas de las prenderías se enredan en arcaicos soliloquios
fakires tragamonedas cruzan palabras con las estatuas bajo la sombra de los alcoholes
tahúres se juegan su última carta de dinamita
los andamios se vanaglorian de su status aéreo
los zapatos de su polirritmia fraternal
las escobas saben madrugar
carretillas de frutas abren rutas de olor entre los transeúntes
telas ondulan hechizando a los vendedores de paletas en sus bicicletas
las ostrerías y las señoritas que promocionan jabones rebosan de proteínas
los semáforos se yerguen totémicos como falos en las aceras
en toldos móviles como góndolas se levantan rojas pirámides de manzanas
bajo puentes extáticos pasan novios de todas las edades
nadie permanece tan firme y circunspecto como el promiscuo edificio
ombligo de timbre
ni saluda con tanta firmeza como el sol pianista de la clorofila
las montañas distribuyen los manuales budistas del aire
en las peluquerías entran señoras tormentas con sus hijos relámpagos
entonces los cines son trenes
los aeropuertos tréboles
los templos son barcos
las torres de energía arcángeles
las fuentes de agua sucursales del Génesis
los taxis negros viudas sigilosas
los bares troncos flotantes
las vitrinas virginales filósofas
son familias en tertulias metafísicas las sastrerías
nodrizas de leche negra las tipografías
sesiones de yoga los acuarios
síquicas terminales de transporte las droguerías
son lunas las bolas de los billares
islotes hipnóticos los casinos
murciélagos los paraguas
centros de espiritismo los teatros
cohetes los hoteles
suntuosas sombrererías las nubes
de los strípteases surgen orquídeas cristales buzos de otros mares
desde las retretas se eleva un hongo de música que toda las persianas de los jubilados
el domingo llega en zancos
y en los estadios de fútbol eleva el gol hasta el nivel del sol
sincroniza las gambetas de los futbolistas con las acrobacias de las golondrinas
desde una terraza Varèse dirige una cuadrilla de ambulancias
en las cristalerías entra Bach con un clavicémbalo de niebla
en los carritos de paletas viene Para Elisa Ludwig van Beethoven
de las ferreterías sale Stockhausen ataviado de arandelas
Van Gogh lleva costales del mejor trigo a las panaderías de los arrabales
Villon se bebe el vino en las parroquias
Picasso tiende una escalerilla de una nariz a otra
Hans Arp suelta sus relojes de cuerda a caminar por los obituarios
y muchos artistas hacen una fiesta que es una siesta enhiesta en la orquesta de la floresta
de repente las sillas de los parques están llenas de boletos de carruseles
de carruseles donde niños ven un país de vivos colores metálicos
entonces los periódicos de los embetunadores se transforman en palomas mensajeras
los cables de alta tensión en pentagramas con arpegios de golondrinas
las cabinas telefónicas en botes de náufragos
las señales de tránsito en jeroglíficos
y hasta los policías parecen inofensivos saltamontes
las clínicas son carruajes de mármol conducidos por los moribunos
en los altos relojes electrónicos se leen los mensajes de los desaparecidos
en la nomenclatura de un edificio con pararrayos está el número
ganador de la lotería
y en sucesivas paredes con graffittis se lee el monólogo de un dragón
un dragón que baja de las cordilleras desde que comenzaron las ciudades…
Close

III

III 
Bell chimes update their nuns habits and car horns their clown costumes
elevators go from the Prehistory floor to the Apocalypse floor
typewriters on top of the pawn shops are embroiled in archaic soliloquies
slot machine fakirs exchange words with statues under the shadow of alcohol
gamblers play their last dynamite card
scaffoldings boast about their aerial status
shoes about their fraternal multiplicity of rhythms
brooms know how to get up early
fruit carts open furrows of fragrance amongst the passers-by
cloths wave bewitchingly to popsicle vendors on their bicycles
oyster bars and the young women who promote soaps brim with proteins
traffic lights rise totemically like phalluses on the sidewalks
red pyramids of apples stand in awnings moving like gondolas
lovers of all ages pass under ecstatic bridges
no one remains as firm and circumspect as the promiscuous building
timbre navel
or greets with as much refinement as the pianist sun of chlorophyll
the mountains distribute Buddhist manuals of air
lady tempests go into barbers shops with their lightning sons
then the cinemas are trains
airports are clover
temples are ships
electricity pylons archangels
fountains branch offices of Genesis
black taxis stealthy widows
bars floating trunks
shop windows virginal philosophers
families in metaphysical get-togethers are tailor’s shops
wet nurses with black milk printing houses
yoga sessions aquariums
psychic freight terminals drugstores
billiard balls are moons
hypnotic islets casinos
bats umbrellas
spiritualism centers theaters
rockets hotels
sumptuous hat shops clouds
from striptease joints emerge crystal orchids divers from other seas
from the open-air concerts rises a mushroom of music that touches the blinds of pensioners
Sunday comes on stilts
and in football stadiums goals rise to the level of the sun
the dodges of football players synchronize with the acrobatics of the swallows
a gang of ambulances directs from a Varese terrace
Bach enters the glassware shops with a harpsichord of fog
in the popsicle carts sounds Für Elise by Ludwig van Beethoven
Stockhausen comes out of the hardware store dressed in frills
Van Gogh takes sacks of the best wheat to the poor quarters
Villon drinks the wine of the parishes
Picasso hangs a gangway from nose to nose
Hans Arp releases his self-winding watches on the obituaries
and many artists throw a fête that’s an effete sieste in the octet of the florets
suddenly the park benches are filled with tickets for merry-go-rounds
merry-go-rounds where children see a country full of metallic colors
then the newspapers of the shoeshine boys are transformed into carrier pigeons
high voltage cables into staffs with arpeggios of swallows
telephone booths into lifeboats
traffic signs into hieroglyphs
and even policemen seem inoffensive grasshoppers
clinics are marble carriages driven by the dying
in the high electronic clocks one reads the messages of missing persons
in the nomenclature of a building with a lightning rod is the winning
lottery number
and in a succession of graffitied walls one reads the monologue of a dragon
a dragon coming down from the chain of mountains since the cities began…

III

III 
Bell chimes update their nuns habits and car horns their clown costumes
elevators go from the Prehistory floor to the Apocalypse floor
typewriters on top of the pawn shops are embroiled in archaic soliloquies
slot machine fakirs exchange words with statues under the shadow of alcohol
gamblers play their last dynamite card
scaffoldings boast about their aerial status
shoes about their fraternal multiplicity of rhythms
brooms know how to get up early
fruit carts open furrows of fragrance amongst the passers-by
cloths wave bewitchingly to popsicle vendors on their bicycles
oyster bars and the young women who promote soaps brim with proteins
traffic lights rise totemically like phalluses on the sidewalks
red pyramids of apples stand in awnings moving like gondolas
lovers of all ages pass under ecstatic bridges
no one remains as firm and circumspect as the promiscuous building
timbre navel
or greets with as much refinement as the pianist sun of chlorophyll
the mountains distribute Buddhist manuals of air
lady tempests go into barbers shops with their lightning sons
then the cinemas are trains
airports are clover
temples are ships
electricity pylons archangels
fountains branch offices of Genesis
black taxis stealthy widows
bars floating trunks
shop windows virginal philosophers
families in metaphysical get-togethers are tailor’s shops
wet nurses with black milk printing houses
yoga sessions aquariums
psychic freight terminals drugstores
billiard balls are moons
hypnotic islets casinos
bats umbrellas
spiritualism centers theaters
rockets hotels
sumptuous hat shops clouds
from striptease joints emerge crystal orchids divers from other seas
from the open-air concerts rises a mushroom of music that touches the blinds of pensioners
Sunday comes on stilts
and in football stadiums goals rise to the level of the sun
the dodges of football players synchronize with the acrobatics of the swallows
a gang of ambulances directs from a Varese terrace
Bach enters the glassware shops with a harpsichord of fog
in the popsicle carts sounds Für Elise by Ludwig van Beethoven
Stockhausen comes out of the hardware store dressed in frills
Van Gogh takes sacks of the best wheat to the poor quarters
Villon drinks the wine of the parishes
Picasso hangs a gangway from nose to nose
Hans Arp releases his self-winding watches on the obituaries
and many artists throw a fête that’s an effete sieste in the octet of the florets
suddenly the park benches are filled with tickets for merry-go-rounds
merry-go-rounds where children see a country full of metallic colors
then the newspapers of the shoeshine boys are transformed into carrier pigeons
high voltage cables into staffs with arpeggios of swallows
telephone booths into lifeboats
traffic signs into hieroglyphs
and even policemen seem inoffensive grasshoppers
clinics are marble carriages driven by the dying
in the high electronic clocks one reads the messages of missing persons
in the nomenclature of a building with a lightning rod is the winning
lottery number
and in a succession of graffitied walls one reads the monologue of a dragon
a dragon coming down from the chain of mountains since the cities began…
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Ludo Pieters Gastschrijver Fonds
Lira fonds
Partners
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