Wind spell – Sebastián Díaz Barriga

 

Translated from Spanish by Delphine Tomes

 

I never learned how to whistle

I always waited

for you

for your lessons

and your What´s up buddy

Do you need any help with that maths?

I´ll be right here

for you

 

now that you are gone

my voice

my laugh

and even my weeping

are stronger

 

thank you so much

and have a good night

 

 

Sebastián Díaz Barriga was born in Mexico City in 1998. In 2018, he wrote his first book (Un rezo para mi padre) translated into English in 2020. He achieved first place at the XII National Desiderio Macías Silva Poetry Contest in 2019. He lives in the 21th century while dreaming about life. http://fabricandopajaros.blogspot.com is his blog.

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September 28, 2020September 28, 2020 by foxglovejournal Categories: Poetry, UncategorizedTags: change, creative, creativity, emotion, growth, help, laugh, lessons, Mexico, Mexico City, night, poem, Poetry, Sebastián Díaz Barriga, skill, spell, strength, voice, waiting, weeping, whistle, wind, writing 1 Comment

Over the fence – John Grey

 

I watched the boy

struggle to climb a fence.

I don’t know whether his intent

was escape

or if he was merely retrieving a lost ball.

 

It was a tall, wooden stockade barrier

and progress could be measured

in the merest of inches

but failure was all the way back down.

 

I didn’t volunteer my help.

He was a kid

and that would have been an insult.

But he did catch my gaze

once or twice.

He must have thought my height

was unfair.

 

He could have much more easily

exited through his front gate

but that lacked the derring-do of a real option.

The fence was Mt. Everest or an opposing army

or a thick jungle or a rampaging animal.

Or maybe it was even me.

 

John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident. His work has recently been published in New Plains Review, Stillwater Review and Big Muddy Review, and is upcoming in Louisiana Review, Columbia College Literary Review and Spoon River Poetry Review.

July 15, 2017 by foxglovejournal Categories: PoetryTags: Australia, barrier, challenge, climb, creative, creativity, escape, exit, failure, fence, gate, gaze, height, help, John Grey, memory, opposition, poem, Poetry, progress, struggle, task, writing Leave a comment