I still had to invite a second poet; this time, new
technologies came to the rescue. One night I was on Facebook and I
noticed a familiar name left a comment in a friend’s post. I immediately
contacted her to ask her if she was the same Teresa Vázquez that was
included in the anthology, Between the Heart and the Land / Entre el corazón y la tierra: Latina Poets in the Midwest, that
Brenda Cárdenas and I co-edited for MARCH/Abrazo Press in 2001. When
Palabra Pura started, Teresa was one of the writers I put on a list of
poets we needed to invite, but the email that I had was no longer
active. Teresa was one of my favorite poets from the anthology. We share
the same last name and she is also from the Caribbean (in her case
Cuba, pero es lo mismo). She is so spectacular that, even though we don’t look anything alike, I used to introduce her as mi hermana.
Teresa has a beautiful voice that you always want to listen to. She did
performances that included original spoken words and music that
explored “the continuums of sound and meaning.” Thank God she recorded
her work in the audio chapbook A Woman Loving.
People not only wanted to read her poems; they wanted to hear her voice
reading her astounding words. Since the time that the anthology was
published and we used to do readings together, Teresa moved to Indiana
where she currently works. Luckily, she is not that far and she still
has family in Chicago. I’m so happy that I finally found Teresa so she
can participate in Palabra Pura.
Let's enjoy one of their poems:
*Secuencia de Eva
En el Jardín del Edén
palidece la serpiente.
Siseante de ponzoñas,
a Eva dirige su inquina,
no porque a menos la tenga,
sino que, formidable rival,
más a Dios se le parece
en su poder gestar vida.
Dispensador de menstruos
y parturientos dolores,
Dios dizque pasa factura
a la imprudencia de Eva.
Pletórica de lunas,
sincronizada su hora
con el divino reloj:
en un tic tac reverbera
sapiencia del acto creador.
*Sequence of Eve
In the Garden of Eden
the serpent turns pale.
Hissing poisons
it directs its spite at Eve,
not because it thinks less of her,
but instead because, formidable rival,
she better resembles God
in her ability to gestate life.
God, dispenser of menses
and labor pangs,
makes Eve pay, so they say,
for her imprudence.
Bursting with moons,
her hour synchronized
with the divine clock,
the wisdom of the creative act
reverberates
in one tic toc.
*By Dinorah Cortés-Vélez from Cuarentena y otras pejigueras menstruales (Quarantine and Other Menstrual Trifles) (Editorial Isla Negra, Puerto Rico, 2011).Translate by Dinorah Cortés-Vélez and Michael Roeschlein.
**Sin Querer / Queriendo
Lo que no se dice
Lo que no se puede decir
Lo que no vale la pena
Los deseos que se aguantan
Cuando uno no tiene palabras
Para donde la imaginación logra llegar
La vista gorda
La mano grande
Los mangos bajitos
Como el que no quiere las cosas
Sin querer, queriendo
A veces, sí es fácil
Estar parada
En la senda del peligro.
**Without Love / Wanting
What is not said
What cannot be said
What’s not worth the trouble-
Reigned desires
When one has no words to describe
The place where imagination has succeeded in taking you
The averted glance
The big hand
Easy fruit
Eaten like someone who didn’t want it
Without meaning to, wanting
Yes, sometimes it is easy
To stand
In the path of danger.
**By Teresa Vázquez from Between the Heart and the Land / Entre el corazón y la tierra; Latina Poets in the Midwest (MARCH/Abrazo Press, Chicago, 2001).
