translated from the Spanish by Aaron Coleman

This quadruped comes
from Joplin, Missouri.
Meat-eater.
On and on it howls through the night
without its regular diet of char-grilled black folk.

In the end it will die.
Feeding it is a(n unsolvable) problem.


 

KKK

Este cuadrúpedo procede
de Joplin, Misuri.
Carnicero.
Aúlla largamente en la noche
sin su dieta habitual de negro asado.

Acabará por sucumbir.
Un problema (insoluble) alimentarlo.

Nicolas Guillén, “KKK” / “KKK” from The Great Zoo, translated by Aaron Coleman. © 2023 by Nicolás Guillén. Translation © 2024 by Aaron Coleman. Reprinted by permission of The University of Chicago Press and the Estate of Nicolás Guillén. All rights reserved.