Selected Poems of Francisco Álvarez Koki

Your body's punctuation 

From this point I wonder. . .

About the ellipsis and the commas

Only familiar to your body and me.

I’m now filled not only with sadness

But also with the geography of silence.

Sonata to a body bathing in a tub 

Like a vessel, the bathtub

Rocked you in time,

And I was your silence

Across the water.

Your exquisite body

Sank in the tenuous water,

While the moon filtered in

With all its mysteries.

The window blinds

Played with the wind,

And the tub embraced you

With its arms of iron.

The water forever

Climbed up your skin

with its tender swashing

to break your codes.

I was the gale

Stirring your sails,

I was the tsunami

Shaking your tub.

At the end, however, time was

Relentless, and I surrendered,

Becoming harbor and seashore,

To be the water in your bathtub.

Cubist portrait 

I won’t be able to move by fear

Of burning the rugs.

—José Lezama Lima

High on the wall

And from a distance,

From the Cubist canvas

A few eyes like ears heard us.

The daring artist may

Question the painting later on,

What with all of our panting and juggling.

And yet the painting,

True to the art that our bodies are,

Shall remain quiet and smiling

With the still steaming tinkling of your kisses.

The couch is recovering from the attacks,

And, jumping out from our two bodies, sparks

Run along the ground, consuming their energies

In the bonfire of passions,

Resonating in harmony.

We relax. . .

Afterwards, we meet again:

It was fi re, a poem, a dream—

Climbing down your body,

Climbing up my kisses.

Woman with lofty peaks,

I lost my way in your high plateaus,

And the echoing sound of my footsteps

Became one with your footprints.

A woman waots up for me 

A woman waits up for me

every morning at dawn

with her hair down

like the word

and her dark eyes

like clear moons.

A woman, made alphabet,

Waits up for me

With her ample smile

And her tragic tears.

Like the spheres, I move along,

Quietly turning,

Asleep between your breasts

Of lemons and darts.

I kiss you between your lips—

always in passing—

and in each orgasm

I die with you.

I love

I love your big eyes

like full moon nights

that curl our kisses,

I love your words…

that timidly you silenced

when you began to love me,

and I love those sighs

that languidly you spill

over the soul of my body

every morning,

when you love me terribly

beyond all silence

and all consonance.

Seed planter 

I like you when you plant

hope on my body,

and I like you when you silence

your sweets words,

when I smell your flowers

that tremble in my study

to the breeze of my sighs

that search for your lips.

All the papers, all of them

await the look that you have

when you read my poems

with silent expectation.

Your flowers speak to me of you

and they make my room happy,

for they hold your kisses

and our words.

Francisco Álvarez Koki: A Guarda, (1957). Escritor gallego y animador cultural. Autor bilingüe residente en Nueva York, donde fundó el colectivo Celso Emilio Ferreiro, para difundir la cultura gallega. Sus últimos libros publicados en gallego son: Olivia e o clarinete Máxico. (Literatura infantil. Ed. Mr. Momo. Sevilla 2021) Un neno na emigración, Vasoiras Barreiro. (Literatura infantil. Ed. Fervenza 2018). A memoria das palabras. (Poesía. Ed. Fervenza 2018). Maruxía (poesía. Ed. Diputación provincial 2010) Ratas en Manhattan (narrativa. Ed Sotelo Blanco 2007) Mais aló de Fisterre (poesía. Diputación provincial 1999). En castellano ha publicado: El libro de Lourenzo (poesía infantil. Ed. Sial Pigmalión 2018) Erótica..Dos. (Antología de toda la poesía amorosa del autor. Ed. Sial Pigmalión 2018) Sombra de Luna (poesía social. Ed. Sial Pigmalión 2015. Premio escriduende de la feria del libro de Madrid 2016. Participó en los siguientes libros. Escritores españoles en los Estados Unidos. Edición de Gerardo Piña. Academia Norteamericana de la lengua española. 2007. Seis narradores españoles en Nueva York. (Narrativa. Ed. Dauro Granada 2006). Geometría y angustia. (Poetas españoles en Nueva York, Edición de Julio Neira. Fundación José Manuel Lara. Sevilla 2012) Miradas de Nueva York. Ed. Cuadernos de El Vigía Granada 2000) Ha sido editor de los siguientes libros: Piel Palabra. Poetas españoles en Nueva York. Ed. Consulado General de España en Nueva York 2003) Al fin del siglo, 20 poetas hispanos en Nueva York. (Ed. Ollantay Press, Nueva York. 1999) Luna y Panorama sobre los rascacielos (Poetas españoles en Nueva York. Consulado General de España en Nueva York 2019) Luna y panorama sobre los rascacielos. ( poetas españoles en Nueva York Ed. Juglar Toledo 2021). 

ILUSTRACIONES: El retrato ha sido remitido por el autor de la obra.

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Libros de Francisco Álvarez Koki