were the green of apples)
the supple flesh hums
with the afterglow
of those eyes
which is why the curve
of chest shimmers which is why
the twist of loin turns
that look into a smile, snaring
your eyes, leading
them slowly to regions
below the waist...That block
of stone more than a figure
disfigured and short; cascade
of shoulder glints
like a sinewy beast
of prey, whose edges blink
like stars-that torso:
gazing on its own. Step closer:
go blind
Added: Monday, June 30, 2014 / from "Glow of Our Sweat" (Scapegoat Press, 2010). Used with permission.
Francisco Aragón is the author of Puerta del Sol (Bilingual Press) and Glow of Our Sweat (Scapegoat Press), as well as editor of the award-winning The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry (University of Arizona Press). His poems and translations have appeared in various anthologies and in print and web journals. He is a faculty member at the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies where he directs Letras Latinas whose current national initiative is “PINTURA : PALABRA, a project in ekphrasis.” He spends the fall semester on the Notre Dame campus, and spring and summer in Washington, D.C. franciscoaragon.net
