DON THOMPSON [8428]

Don Thompson nació en Bakersfield, California, ESTADOS UNIDOS en 1942, y ha vivido en el sur de San Joaquin Valley casi toda su vida.

Publicaciones de Thompson incluyen Been There, Done That (2002), Sittin 'on Stoop Slick Grace (2006), Turning Sixty (2008), Where We Live (2009) y Todo Barren será bendecido (2012). Back Roads ganó el Sunken Jardín Premio de Poesía en 2008.

TRABAJOS DE JARDINERÍA

Mi soplador de hojas volteó por el aire al mirlo

con sus alas extendidas e ingrávidas,

flotando en el viento eléctrico y poderoso

como si aún siguiera vivo.

Por tres o cuatro veces pareció volar,

pero nuevamente volvió a caer de costado

como una cometa sin cuerda,

así que me di por vencido: tenía trabajo que hacer.

Y cuando el polvo que levanté

se posó de nuevo en aquel otro mundo

bajo los rosales, las hormigas

regresaron para finalizar el suyo.

[Versión al castellano: Jesús Jiménez Domínguez]

October

I used to think the land

had something to say to us,

back when wildflowers

would come right up to your hand

as if they were tame.

Sooner or later, I thought,

the wind would begin to make sense

if I listened hard

and took notes religiously.

That was spring.

Now I’m not so sure:

the cloudless sky has a flat affect

and the fields plowed down after harvest

seem so expressionless,

keeping their own counsel.

This afternoon, nut tree leaves

blow across them

as if autumn had written us a long letter,

changed its mind,

and tore it into little scraps.

Yard Work

My leaf blower lifted the blackbird—

wings still spread, weightless,

floating on the loud, electric wind

almost as if it were alive.

Three or four times it flew,

but fell again, sideslipped down

like a kite with no string,

so I gave up. . . I had work to do,

and when the dust I raised

had settled in that other world

under the rose bushes, the ants

came back to finish theirs.