Tomás Harris
THOMÁS HARRIS (La Serena, 1956) is considered one of Chile's most important young poets. He is the author of more than five poetry collections and a book of short stories. He lives and works in Santiago, Chile. These poems appear in the award-winning collection Cipango.
DANIEL SHAPIRO, a poet and translator, is Director of Literature at the Americas Society, and Managing Editor of Review: Latin American Literature and Arts.
The first neon lights
streaking the dawn
green luminous golden ultramarine
cross-dressed the ship like a drag
queen with too much jewelry and fake gold,
the last thing we saw was the stern
swaying as it sank from that weight
through a red tunnel grotto vulva mine or
cave and our senses, all of them,
made us guttural, vanquished us, made us drool.
What they saw was more or less this,
that few survived to tell the tale and
fewer stayed sane: we were.....
streaking the dawn
green luminous golden ultramarine
cross-dressed the ship like a drag
queen with too much jewelry and fake gold,
the last thing we saw was the stern
swaying as it sank from that weight
through a red tunnel grotto vulva mine or
cave and our senses, all of them,
made us guttural, vanquished us, made us drool.
What they saw was more or less this,
that few survived to tell the tale and
fewer stayed sane: we were.....