"[To find a kiss of yours]" by Federico García Lorca translated by Sarah Arvio

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend July 25, 2017   [To find a kiss of yours]   Federico García Lorca, translated by Sarah Arvio

To find a kiss of yours what would I give A kiss that strayed from your lips dead to love   My lips taste the dirt of shadows        To gaze at your dark eyes what would I give Dawns of rainbow garnet   fanning open before God—    The stars blinded them one morning in May   And to kiss your pure thighs what would I give Raw rose crystal   sediment of the sun   *   [Por encontrar un beso tuyo]   Por encontrar un beso tuyo, ¿qué daría yo? ¡Un beso errante de tu boca muerta para el amor!   (Tierra de sombra come mi boca.)   Por contemplar tus ojos negros, qué daría yo? ¡Auroras  de carbunclos irisados abiertas frente a Dios!   (Las estrellas los cegaron una mañana de mayo.)   Y por besar tus muslos castos, ¿qué daría yo?   (Cristal de rosa primitiva, sedimento de sol.)            Translation copyright © 2017 by Sarah Arvio. Original text copyright © The Estate of Federico García Lorca. About This Poem   "'[To find a kiss of yours]' is an untitled poem from an undated manuscript by Federico García Lorca. Though the style matches that of the young poet, what is unusual for that time is the erotic frankness—embedded in strange and striking imagery—that is a feature of Lorca's late great work." —Sarah Arvio   Sarah Arvio's Poet in Spain, a translation of poetry by Federico García Lorca will be published by Alfred A. Knopf in November. She lives in Maryland, near the Chesapeake Bay.   Federico García Lorca was born in Granada, Spain, in 1898. He wrote numerous books of poems and plays, many of which were translated into English and published in the United States, including The Poetical Works of Federico García Lorca: Selected Verse (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1994) and In Search of Duende (New Directions, 1998). He died in 1936. Poetry by Lorca, translated by Arvio   Poet in Spain (Knopf, 2017) "Invitation to the Voyage" by Charles Baudelaire "Love For This Book" by Pablo Neruda "Garcia Lorca Meets Crane" by Dante Micheaux Help Support Poem-a-Day   If you value Poem-a-Day, please consider a monthly donation or one-time gift to help make it possible. Poem-a-Day is the only digital series publishing new, previously unpublished work by today's poets each weekday morning. The free series, which also features a curated selection of classic poems on weekends, reaches 450,000+ readers daily. Thank you! Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038