KKK
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.
Nicolás Guillén
Nicolás Guillén was born in Camagüey, Cuba, on July 10, 1902. His father, Nicolás Guillén Urra, was a journalist who later became a senator. Guillén Urra was killed by opposing political forces in 1917. As a young adult, Guillén found work as a typesetter to support his family. He graduated from the Institute of Camagüey with a bachelor’s degree in letters and sciences. He then entered the University of Havana’s School of Law, but dropped out in 1921 to write poetry.