Sophisticated Lady

translated from the Spanish by David Francis

                                              with Benny Morton’s trombone 
                                                   and Dizzy Gillespie’s trumpet 
                                                         tested by those with expertise  
                                       drug                 with black sweat
                                dance                        in a ship’s cove
                                                                       in a steamship

 

another fetish 
    of such sophistication
          such gold and doubled arabesques 
                 incrusted in stones and feathers                   god 
                      ivory cube   black dots                         given
                           an oxidized trumpet                         

Reprinted by permission of Circumference Books and the Heirs of Severo Sarduy. “Sophisticated Lady” from Footwork by Severo Sarduy, translated by David Francis (Circumference Books, NYC, 2021).