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Poem-a-day

[Someone running with his head aflame …]

translated from the Spanish by Robin Myers
 

Someone running with his head aflame as the gods gust in his chest. The wind stirs him everywhere exhaustion’s gone. Others fall like trees. The men plead with the god of mice or the goddess of cow-eyes or the god who fills the sky with bolts. They wait for something to kindle them like embers. Now they burn their hands and their legs run almost by themselves. The heart brims with vitality. It’s the same wildness of the dogs, the heave of the river and sunlight; the donkey’s mettle, the tornado hoisting the waves into the clouds. Its name is ménos, force. The energy that ignites the limbs and heats the blood and propels life all around. An impulse is an extraordinary glimmer, sometimes a blind one. Force can be a vital explosion. It too ignores shatters whoever stands before it. The wind drives the legs uproots the leaves and howls in the water’s ears. The fire illuminates and razes the woods it’s in my thinking now.

 


 

[Alguien corriendo con la cabeza en llamas ...]

 

 

Alguien corriendo con la cabeza en llamas mientras los dioses soplan en su pecho. El viento lo aviva para todos lados el cansancio se va. Otros caen como árboles. Los hombres piden ayuda al dios de los ratones o la de ojos de vaca o al que llena el cielo de relámpagos. Esperan que algo los encienda como brasas. Ahora queman las manos y las piernas corren casi por su cuenta. El corazón desborda de vitalidad. Es la misma fiereza de los perros, el arrastre del río y el rayo del sol; el temple del burro, el tornado que levanta las olas por las nubes. Su nombre es ménos, fuerza. La energía que enciende los miembros y calienta la sangre y mueve la vida alrededor. El impulso es un brillo extraordinario, a veces ciego. La fuerza puede ser una explosión vital. También ignora hace pedazos al que tiene enfrente. El viento empuja las piernas y arranca las hojas y aúlla en los oídos del agua. El incendio ilumina y arrasa el bosque está en mi pensamiento ahora.

Copyright © 2026 by Daniel Lipara, translated by Robin Myers. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on September 16, 2026, by the Academy of American Poets. 

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Daniel Lipara

Daniel Lipara
Photo credit: Robin Myers
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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. Maya C. Popa is the Guest Editor for September. Read or listen to a Q&A with Maya about her curatorial process, and learn more about the 2026 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
After Lighght Tom Thompson 06/25/2014
Our Many Never Endings Courtney Queeney 06/23/2014
A Sense of Proportion William Stobb 06/23/2014
Lunch at a City Club Stephen Vincent Benét 06/22/2014
To America James Weldon Johnson 06/21/2014
Love in the Morning Annie Finch 06/20/2014
valentine for Sally Hemings Sojourner Ahebee 06/19/2014
With Passing Wonder I Notice the Tracks of an Animal David Biespiel 06/18/2014
Life’s Ironies Jane Miller 06/17/2014
What Are They Doing in the Next Room Bruce Smith 06/16/2014

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