Noise
translated from the Spanish by Ana Portnoy Brimmer
Silence is impossible in this century.
Everything howls. It has no way to flourish.
The wild animal of ourselves, this learned condition
growls relentlessly.
Might we then remove ourselves from the bustle.
Build a nest atop some lull
or find shelter that’ll hold
our anxious knowing, that we die
awfully small
awfully momentous
among endless noise.
Ruido
Es imposible el silencio en este siglo.
No tiene cómo darse. Es que tanto ruge.
Imparable ronronea la bestia que somos
la que hemos aprendido.
Será posible entonces ausentarse del bullicio.
Hacer nido en la pausa
o encontrar resguardo que acurruque
la ansiedad de sabernos morir
tan pequeños
tan importantes
entre tanto ruido.
Copyright © 2026 by Amanda Hernández, translated by Ana Portnoy Brimmer. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on September 18, 2026, by the Academy of American Poets.
“‘Ruido’ is a poem about finding solace in slowing down, standing still, even when the idea is unbearable, or even more so because of it, and recognizing the importance of loss and learning to embrace silence, to find freedom in solitude and joy in recognizing ourselves in others, especially in the thick of the everyday bustle.”
—Amanda Hernández
“‘Ruido’ is a poem from the forthcoming Ambroggio Prize–winning collection, The Only Thing that Matters: Poems / La única cosa importante: Poemas, by the Puerto Rican poet Amanda Hernández. This poem poses questions we insistently turn away from as a species. It invites us to sit in the discomfort and wonder of impermanence, in the silence of our smallness, and reckon with the condition of existing—more so in an archipelago fraying at the seams and an unstable world order. My translation of the poem ‘Noise’ honors said meditation while taking subtle syntactic detours to render the author’s lyrical logic with the intended existential sensibility.”
—Ana Portnoy Brimmer
Amanda Hernández
