Palabras Errantes Latin American Literature in Translation
For the Seals/ Para las focas
By Juan Manuel Sánchez, translated by Cindy Schuster. Photography by Diego Vidart
I
Of late
the city
is awash
with seals.
Seals at my heels
penguinized seals
chimney-smoking
seals in meetings.
Seals
sealing deals
drinking scotch
on the rocks.
I lock myself
in the bathroom
I need
legs.
I too
applaud
and balance
a ball
on my nose.
I
Últimamente
la ciudad
se ha llenado
de focas.
Focas en la sopa
focas apingüinadas
meeting de focas
fumando
chimeneas.
Focas
focas en las rocas
tomando
un buen scotch.
Me encierro
en el baño
necesito
piernas.
Yo también
aplaudo
y sostengo
la pelota
con mi hocico.
XI
I am going to pray
at the bank
where God
will hear my pleas.
Give us this day
our daily
clients.
There is no salvation
without work
nor work without profits.
Collect our debts
as we too
collect
from our debtors.
And deliver us
from recession
amen.
XI
Voy a orar
al banco
donde Dios
oirá mis plegarias.
Danos hoy
nuestros clientes
de cada día.
No hay
salvación sin trabajo
ni trabajo sin ganancias.
Cobra nuestras deudas
como también
nosotros
cobramos
a quienes nos
adeudan.
Y líbranos
de la recesión
amén.
XII
The boss is my shepherd
he leads me through
fertile valleys
of perpetual bonanza
spacious offices
and exclusive perks.
That is why I wait
for the next life
each day
is one day
closer
to the next life.
The boss is my shepherd
I shall not fear
when we traverse
dark paths.
And when he asks
for a test of my faith
I will flagellate my wages
and tighten the cilice
of my rights.
XII
El gerente es mi pastor
me conduce por
fértiles valles
de bonanza perpetua
amplias oficinas
y exlusivos privilegios.
Por eso aguardo
la próxima vida
cada día
es un día
más cerca
de la próxima vida.
El gerente es mi pastor
no tendré miedo
cuando atravesemos
senderos oscuros.
Y cuando me pida
probar mi fe
flagelaré mi sueldo
y apretaré el cilicio
de mis derechos.
XIII
Money
doesn’t smell
and the higher
the figure
the fainter the scent.
No matter
if it springs
from the sweat
of my brow
or the blood
of others.
Money
doesn’t smell
but as a precaution
only as a precaution
I always buy
the most expensive
perfume.
XIII
El dinero
no tiene olor
y cuanto más cifras
tiene
menos huele.
Poco da
si brota
del sudor
de mi frente
o la sangre
de los otros.
El dinero
no tiene olor
pero por las dudas
sólo por las dudas
compro siempre
el perfume
más caro.
*
Across a sea of grassland they came
people of curved sabers
olive skin and sacred stallions.
Agents of chaos, sons of destruction
weddings of the dead and revelry.
Cement
municipal decrees
arrogant tinted glass
containment plans
in civic centers,
all were futile.
Amid red-tinged clouds of smoke
rises
the city that never should have been.
Llegaron a través de un mar de pasturas
pueblo de espadas curvas,
tez oliva y sementales sagrados.
Agentes del caos, hijos de la destrucción
bodas de muertos y en fiesta.
De nada sirvió el cemento,
los decretos municipales
el arrogante vidrio polarizado
los planes de contención
por centros comunales.
En rojizas humaredas
se eleva
la ciudad que nunca debió existir.
Juan Manuel Sánchez was born in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1983. Currently, he is a student of letters and museology at the Universidad de La Republica. He also teaches literature classes, writes literary reviews for La Diaria and works at the Centro Cultural Castillo Pittamiglio. He is the author of *Para las focas*. Five of his poems are included in *América invertida: an anthology of younger Uruguayan poets* which is forthcoming from the University of New Mexico Press.
Cindy Schuster’s translations of Latin American writers have appeared in numerous publications. She co-translated *Cubana: Contemporary Fiction by Cuban Women*, with Dick Cluster. She has received an NEA Translation Fellowship and is a former board member of the American Literary Translators Association. She holds a Ph.D. in Spanish from the University of California, Irvine.
