So you will not say that I am difficult by Maritza Cino, Translated from the Spanish by Alexis Levitin Per Contra Winter 2009

So you will not say that I am difficult by Maritza Cino, Translated from the Spanish by Alexis Levitin

So you will not say that I am difficult

I will leave the jigsaw puzzle not quite done

I will not speak to you of my baroque tendencies

Nor ask you what the meaning is of death

So you will not say that I am difficult

--for a moment—

I will be subordinate, exclusively,

To the metalanguage of your body.

Para que no digas que soy difícil

voy a dejar inconcluso el rompecabezas

no te hablaré de mis preferencias barrocas

ni preguntaré el significado de la muerte

para que no digas que soy difícil

—por un momento—

estaré subordinada, exclusivamente,

al metalenguaje de tu cuerpo.

Poetry