Spanish Poetry (And Some English Too)

Posting one new spanish poem and a couple older english poems. I'm pretty busy here as a counselor at Spanish Camp, but even so I like going back over my poetry and taking out the the ones that express well my emotions even now. The second one I've changed a bit recently, so it's almost new.Enjoy.

El niño por la ventana

Se ve una plaza silenciosa lleno de bancos vacíos
bajo lluvia, que cae                   como la risa ansiosa,
como el tamborileo de pies escapando o la corrida de un río
rebosando en primavera.
                                        El invierno reposa
adentro, donde un niño mira por la ventana oscura
el espacio afuera,
                            libre y mojado de imaginación,
mientras los secos se le olvidan en su apresura;
se meten y se pierden en su programación. 

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Memories of a Lantern Festival

A returning:
the sun sank within horizon’s arms
like the loved returning to her lover;
the sound of birds took flight into the sky
to the pink paper lanterns
setting sail.

A separation:
the fire, the paper, the candle between,
the glow wedged between black water and blue sky;
our thoughts had left our bodies
to float offshore in the waning tide 

and join the spirits of the dead.

A memory:
smoke rose into the disappearing light
as if giving tomorrow some prayer of returning;
the lanterns carried loved souls of a different day;
even we were like ghosts going home,
watching ancestors wave in the flickering wind.

 

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Walking Out on a Movie 

I could explain the right and wrong of why.
I could tell you it's a form of death,
but you wouldn’t understand me.
We have had this conversation before.
You told me,
“Give it a chance.”
I did, against my better judgment.
But I have been here before.
Not in a past life, this one.
I inevitably walk out with wasted time.

Maybe you look at me as I go.
I don’t look back.
Maybe you think I’m intolerant
or I need to loosen up.
I don’t need more loose screws.
Maybe you think it’s as harmless as chocolate ice cream.
For your sake, I will translate my mind.
What if I don’t like chocolate ice cream?
Perhaps I like vanilla and sometimes strawberry.
And what if I don’t like ice cream at all?
There’s too much sugar
that gnaws at my bones.
I’m tired and I want to sleep,
so no more caffeine or whatever.

I don’t like the bitterness in the back of my mouth. 

Would you begrudge me a choice
when the choice is mine?
You say it’s worth it in the end.
But there are so many of them that are worth it
when the nuances of taste leave the memory.
So many flavors and variations that I enjoy.
Or millions of movies that I could otherwise watch.
It takes time to watch a movie
when I could be driving home from here,
the wind reeling like film through the window.
The steering wheel takes me around the corner
to the back road that opens up to green fields
and leaning maples that line the banks of brooklets.
There, the autumn leaves descend like rain on houses and yards,
as if they are creating paths where even children can wander. 

Give me that landscape.
I will watch it for hours.