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).