San Miguel PEN Celebrates Poets
Local, Mexican and Latin American
Mi Guanajuato
de Fernando Soledad
Cerro de ranas
dende el sol se derrama
sobre las ramas y
los garambullos sangran
de una dulce herida
Caminé por tus calles como loco
buscando las huella que dejé de niño
surcadas con el peso de la inocencia
El tiempo las había borrado
Trazos sepultados
por una ola de roja espuma
En cientos de millones de años
quizás no quede nada aquí
El cerro se hundirá en el mar
con todo y su cristo
Nadie habrá para contemplar lo absurdo
de buscar el candor de aquella infancia
en un charco de sangre
en el eco de una bala
mientras que el Congreso del Estado
por unanimidad declara que en efecto aquí la vida
no vale nada
Pero la libertad rebelde seguirá
paseándose por tus plazas
y se sentará en cualquier banca
esperando resumir el alba
My Guanajuato
by Fernando Soledad
Hill of frogs
where the sun pours out
over the branches and
the garambullos bleed
from a sweet wound
I walked your streets like a madman
looking for the footprints I left as a child
plowed under with the weight of innocence
Time had erased them
traces buried
by a wave of red foam
In hundreds of millions of years
maybe nothing will remain here
The hill will sink into the sea
with everything including its Christ
Nobody will contemplate the absurdity
of looking for the candor of that innocence
in a puddle of blood
in the echo of a bullet
while the Congress of the State
unanimously declares that in fact here life
is worth nothing
But rebellious freedom will keep on
strolling through your plazas
and will sit on any bench
waiting to resume with the dawn
Translated by Lucina Kathmann
Fernando Soleda
Born in San Miguel in 1992, Fernando Soledad is a writer, translator, musician, and poet. He has written for magazines such as El Beisman and Punto Rojo, been published in various anthologies and won literary competitions. He has also been a student in the Musa Hosca (Grumpy Muse) writing workshop run by San Miguel PEN Vice President Emeritus Victor Sahuatoba. “My Guanajuato” was published in Ecos.