In the Drying Shed of Souls

Leyman Pérez
Translated from the Spanish by Katherine M. Hedeen & Víctor Rodríguez Núñez

Drips drips dripsdripsdripsdripsthe cytostatic IVthe veinburstercr  ush         ing                youslowlys l o w l ywhile next to yousomeone talksabout declineabout timeabout the endless crisisthe nationfinds itself inand behindthe nervous paneit’s rainingstill the waterdoesn’t cleanseor curethe expressionof lifeor deathin facesand some kidsseem happybeneath the drizzlenot thinkinghow much pain there isonly a few meters awayfrom themonly a few meters awayeveryone’s stopped cryingeyeshave driedin the drying shedof soulsdripsdripsdripsthe cytostatic IVtoward the limbsthat deserthorizontalityeating awayat fleshand spiritdripstoward the spiritand shadow’strunksprouts once morelike a jagüey treeripens its rootsout in the red opendripstoward the neckwhere your painand mineare drawndripsdripsdripsand later you haveno more anguishyou have no moresubstancesto recall.

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Leyman Pérez is a poet and editor. He is managing editor of Matanzas, a journal of literature and the arts. He has published eleven books of poetry, and his work has received numerous prizes. He lives in Matanzas, Cuba.

Katherine M. Hedeen (translator)

Katherine M. Hedeen’s latest book-length translations include night badly written and tasks by Cuban poet Víctor Rodríguez Núñez, and Nothing Out of This World, an anthology of contemporary Cuban poetry. A two-time recipient of a NEA Translation Project Grant, she is a professor of Spanish at Kenyon College.

Víctor Rodríguez Núñez (translator)

Víctor Rodríguez Núñez has published more than thirty books of poetry throughout Latin America and Europe and has received major awards all over the Spanish-speaking world. He divides his time between Gambier, Ohio, where he is professor of Spanish at Kenyon College, and Havana, Cuba.

Kenyon Review

January / February 2018

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