The translator undresses. Tries on the shape of the work she translates. Stuffs her new belly with his engorged sex. Tries not to re-write his words tries to give her self over to his syntax. In the end, she wears her same nakedness.
volcano spews ash
thick clouds that touch the heavens
cover her body
transient—passing by or away from one place to another.
her thick fingers
trees damaged by a hard storm
downed power lines
rendering something written or spoken in different but equivalent form or state to a different place, office, or sphere by which information in messenger RNA directs the sequence
from the language of ash: the women in her family are beautiful and alone.
yellow park flower
its petals its leaves
brown
Monica Hand, "From the language of ash" from me and Nine. Copyright © 2012 by Monica Hand. Used with the permission of The Permissions Company, Inc., on behalf of Alice James Books, www.alicejamesbooks.org.