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OPEN UP, GENITALIA by Ana Istarú

mahmag  •  10 October, 2008

Ana Istaru

Open up, genitalia
like a consenting flower
Undo the latches of your retreat


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OPEN UP, GENITALIA

Open up, genitalia

like a consenting flower

Undo the latches of your retreat

allow

the suffering swimmer to escape,

stop, don’t hold back

your fragile prancing,

open up with courage

like a balcony that emerges over the air

and shows off its geraniums.

Reveal,

oh shadowy well, your mystery.

Don’t halt its sailing voyage.

It doesn’t matter that your goodbye

pierces you like the north wind,

like an icy beam that houses

its splinters in your pelvis.

Open up, genitalia

turn yourself into a waterfall,

forget your sorrow.

Let it open for the child

that lives in your daydream.

Open bravely

your warm floodgates

to this honey ice cone ,

to this animal that trembles

like a gust of wind,

to this wrinkled fruit

that will sink itself in the light with rage,

to search like a deer with eyes closed

for the nipples of the air, for the two breasts of the day.

----

ÁBRETE SEXO

Ábrete sexo
como una flor que accede,
descorre las aldabas de tu ermita,
deja escapar
al nadador transido,
desiste, no retengas
sus frágiles cabriolas,
ábrete con arrojo,
como un balcón que emerge
y ostenta sobre el aire sus geranios.
Desenfunda,
oh poza de penumbra, tu misterio.
No detengas su viaje al navegante.
No importa que su adiós
te hiera como cierzo,
como rayo de hielo que en la pelvis
aloja sus astillas.
Ábrete sexo,
hazte cascada,
olvida tu tristeza.
Deja partir al niño
que vive en tu entresueño.
Abre gallardamente
tus cálidas compuertas
a este copo de mieles,
a este animal que tiembla
como un jirón de viento,
a este fruto rugoso
que va a hundirse en la luz con arrebato,
a buscar como un ciervo con los ojos cerrados
los pezones del aire, los dos senos del día.

---

translated from Spanish by:
Andres Alfaro,
2008 San Francisco



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Ana Istarú is a Costa Rican poet, playwright and actress born in 1960 in San José. As a poet she is most noted for her book Fever Season, which won the EDUCA in 1983, a prestigious prize awarded to the best book of poetry in Central America. Her work often focuses on themes such as eroticism and the examination of the female perspective. Her poem, Open Up, Genitalia comes from her book Mother Language, published in 1995.
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