Miriam Reyes [Spain]

 

naked like a ribbon i offer you
i offer you the darkness of the knot
with which i fasten myself—
to the mast of myself—
against the disturbances of balance

the darkness of the knot

 
i’ve forgotten plenty
but i remember saying
darkness is mine and i’ll live with both
as long as i still have light
 
i said it with my mouth full of water
years and years ago
when i wasn’t exactly this one that now offers herself
nor was i entirely someone else
i said it to one person and to another person
and to no person or to myself
within the darkness of the knot
with my mouth full of water
from the crashing sea
 
the crashing sea unanchors words from my mouth
that says
i see with a consciousness of limit and horizon
not without frustration and wonder
 
i know i have a fever because i feel my skin burning
to the side of my flesh
 
beneath my consciousness
 
where i dive and immerse myself
where i chew on the possibility of floating
and of sinking
from one side of my mouth to the other
until i swallow them

(Translated by Laura Cesarco Eglin from Uruguay)
 
 
we practice ways of mending
what could suffer a tear
 
at a standstill in the doorway
the body trembles sensing
 
from the spot where the hook pierces
blood drips predicts and faints
 
(Translated by Laura Cesarco Eglin from Uruguay)
 
 
i’ve projected onto my meager experience of you
my experience of others
 
the first stretch is beautiful:
lungs eyes heart and sex
spark ignite throb applaud
the brain vibrates and glows
 
i was walking down that path
hanging over others’ heads like a tongue of fire
when i remembered where it could lead
you know: to that place of unbearable pain
 
it’s not unusual for people to choose a stroll in the park
when they could get lost in the forest
don’t you think?
 
i hope it’s clear
i mean: you’re a forest
it’s hard to find a clearing in you
and sit down
it’s hard not to be afraid in you
when night falls
and everything is howling
 
and yet (or precisely because of that) i’d do it
i’d spend the night in the lush foliage
letting life climb up my legs
sting me bite me shit on me
the teeth the claws the stinger of life
the wet snout
the fruit breaking on my head

 
(Translated by Laura Cesarco Eglin from Uruguay)
 
 
everything that i can call my own
this body that speaks and gestures
that knows what it can and desires however it can
encloses itself and encloses within itself
everything i can call my own
this body that thinks and trembles
that contracts where there’s fear and expands where there’s love
this body that boils and precipitates
that accumulates plastics and ideas metal and affections
 
this body, imagined and submitted to an examination
se  man  tic      vec  tor
sym     bo     lic     struc     ture
ax         is      of     ex   pe   ri     ence
ex      pres     sive       space
sys      tem    of    sys    tems
so     cial     con    struct
par    tic    i    pant
with  no  escape
 
substantiated by the substance that forms everything
continuum of atoms that stretches
through all dimensions
certainly vast and ancient
now human now celestial or mineral
with no before or after
in every before and after
portion of matter and whole matter
complex particles node presence bulge and figure
 
this body
this body who
unfathomable and naked
in conjunction
 
(Translated by Laura Cesarco Eglin from Uruguay) 
 
 
Author’s Bionote:
 
*Miriam Reyes (Galicia, Spain, 1974) is a Spanish poet, video artist, and translator brought up in Caracas, Venezuela. She studied Literature at the Central University of Venezuela and earned a degree in Hispanic Philology from the University of Barcelona. She has published the poetry collections “Espejo negro” (2001), “Bella durmiente” (2004, Finalist of the Hiperion Prize), “Desalojos” (2008), ‘Haz lo que te digo” (2015), “Prensado en frío” (2016), “Sardiña” (2018), “Con” (2024), for which she was awarded the 2025 National Poetry Prize of Spain, and “Nunca muere” (2026). In late 2025, she published her first novel, “La edad infinita”. Since 2001, she is been experimenting with video poetry and multimedia poetry performance. She has also translated contemporary poetry from Galician, Portuguese and Catalan into Spanish. More info: www.miriamreyes.com