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Open Closet Door
I open the door of my closet
as I open a diary.
There hangs my life
my worn-out daily existence
no secrets
intimacy exposed
that no button will defend
no pocket secure,
a truer mirror than any other
holding up to scrutiny
the measures of my body.[private]
Closet
tabernacle of my room
which I open in the morning
as if at a window
to consecrate the ritual of my day.
Blue Beard’s parlour
cluttered with pendants
long skirts and veils
entangled yet trickling no blood.
Decapitated bodies
my hands missing
from limp sleeves.
From the closet my clothes
pursue me
like a chest of heirlooms or
maledictions.
Skins of mine hanging
at rest
silent guardians
of my perfumes
more delicate textures
of myself
that light washes out
that time wears away
that moths nibble at
still, they’ll last much longer on their hangers
than I on my bones.
I won’t take a single one.
I’ll go unclothed
leaving behind me
an open door.
We Call the Breath of the Mountains
Mountains are not as is said
unmoving.
Mountains shift in the light
green ships without sails
that luminosity strikes
and night straddles.
Between two hills
the axe of the sun
carves out a valley
that afternoon light closes
stitching up slopes
with purple thread.
Ridges aligned
in the morning
a docile drove
in the thread of time
they will be struck
till forming a wall
on the horizon
raised up against the light.
Mountains are not as is said
inert.
Their fine breath
which hovers and journeys
we call
mist.[/private]
Translated by Diane Grosklaus Whitty.
Specialising in academia and the arts, Diane Grosklaus Whitty has translated prose and poetry by Marina Colasanti, The Devil and the Land of the Holy Cross by Laura de Mello e Souza, and Baroque: the Soul of Brazil by Affonso Romano de Sant’Anna.
About Marina Colasanti
Marina Colasanti was born in 1937 in Eritrea and lived in Libya and Italy before moving to Brazil. She has published more than fifty books including eight works of poetry for children and adults, as well as short stories and essays. She also does her own illustrations. She has received major prizes in Brazil and throughout Latin America.
