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Poem-a-day

disagreement

translated from the Spanish by Andrés Fernández

(to my sister)

(the deafening
sound
of the sea
comes 
between
us both)

I say to her:
I think
we're
drowned

she replies:
no
We're not
drowned

I say to her:
we're lying
side by side
at the bottom
of the sea

she replies:
no
We are standing
on the shore

I say to her:
I truly
believe
we've
already drowned

she replies:
no
We are
breathing
just fine

I say to her:
for me
no 
air
comes
in

she replies:
I have air
for both of us

 

 


 

desacuerdo

 

 (a mi hermana) 

(el rugido 
ensordecedor
del mar 
se interpone
entre 
las dos)
  
yo le digo:
creo 
que estamos 
ahogadas
  
ella responde:
no 
No estamos 
ahogadas

yo le digo:
yacemos 
a la par 
en el fondo 
del mar

ella responde:
no 
Estamos de pie 
en la orilla
  
yo le digo:
de verdad 
creo 
que ya 
nos ahogamos
  
ella responde:
no 
Estamos 
respirando 
muy bien

yo le digo:
a mí 
no 
me 
entra 
aire
  
ella responde:
Yo tengo aire
para las dos

Copyright © 2025 by María Auxiliadora Álvarez. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on September 29, 2025, by the Academy of American Poets.

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María Auxiliadora Álvarez

María Auxiliadora Álvarez
Photo credit: Laura Fernández-Álvarez
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About Poem-a-Day

Poem-a-Day is the original and only daily digital poetry series featuring over 250 new, previously unpublished poems by today’s talented poets each year. Randall Mann is the Guest Editor of August. Read or listen to a Q&A with Mann about his curatorial process, and learn more about the 2025 Guest Editors. Support Poem-a-Day.  

If you have any questions about Poem-a-Day, visit our Poem-a-Day FAQ.

Previous Poems

Title Author Date
Water Ralph Waldo Emerson 10/22/2011
The Bus through Jonesboro, Arkansas Matthew Henriksen 10/21/2011
Potentially Interesting & Secretly Devastating Tina Brown Celona 10/20/2011
[I Failed Him and He Failed Me] Katie Ford 10/19/2011
My Pentagon Heather Christle 10/18/2011
Bright Felon DVD Extra/Alternate Ending Kazim Ali 10/17/2011
The impact of a dollar upon the heart Stephen Crane 10/15/2011
After tagging the dust your body is made of Jen Tynes 10/14/2011
At the Equinox Arthur Sze 10/13/2011
Portrait of Dido Elizabeth Belle Lindsay, Great-Niece of Lord Mansfield, and Her Cousin, Lady Elizabeth Murray, c. 1779 (by unknown artist) Honorée Fanonne Jeffers 10/12/2011

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