Mexican Poet, lived 1914 - 1998. I've been reading some of his translations during class and he's pretty good. Thoughts? Favourite works by him? How much is lost in the english translations?

Garabato
Con un trozo de carbón
con mi gis roto y mi lápiz rojo
dibujar tu nombre
el nombre de tu boca
el signo de tus piernas
en la pared de nadie
En la puerta prohibido
grabar el nombre de tu cuerpo
haste que la hoja de mi navaja
sangre

y la piedra grite

y el muro respire como un pecho

Scrawl
With a piece of charcoal
with my broken crayon and my red pencil
scrawling your name
the name of your mouth
the sign of your legs
on nobody's wall
On the forbidden door
engraving the name of your body
till the blade of my knife
bleeds

and the stone screams

and the wall breathes like a chest

I do like him but i'm leaning towards gary soto more:


In this moment when the light starts up
In the east and rubs
The horizon until it catches fire,

We enter the fields to hoe,
Row after row, among the small flags of onion,
Waving off the dragonflies
That ladder the air.

And tears the onions raise
Do not begin in your eyes but in ours,
In the salt blown
From one blister into another;

They begin in knowing
You will never waken to bear
The hour timed to a heart beat,
The wind pressing us closer to the ground.

When the season ends,
And the onions are unplugged from their sleep,
We won’t forget what you failed to see,
And nothing will heal
Under the rain’s broken fingers.



i mean, woah!