Translation of the Poet Marcia Ondina
I. Of other losses
Over the loudspeakers
they announced the loss of a dog:
they described its features
the love of its owner
a reward was offered.
In another part of town
was Marina, inconsolable
She had lost her son
There were no announcements
there were no rewards.
The mother
exposed her loss to curious neighbors
they ran out of questions
She gave no answers.
There was no sign of the child.
There is a crucifix on the wall.
Juanita
had a bigger one on her breast the day she died.
That afternoon nobody bought bread, it was pouring.
The child was forgotten before yesterday.
The dog walks with its owner along the pavement
Marina has been sleeping for days.
I. De otras pérdidas
Anunció la barata la pérdida de un perro:
se dieron las señas
se habló del cariño de su dueño
se ofreció una recompensa.
En otro sitio
estaba Marina inconsolable
perdió a su hijo
no hubo barata
no hubo recompensa.
La madre
exponía su pérdida a vecinos curiosos
agotaron sus preguntas
no dio respuestas.
No hubo seña del niño.
Hay un crucifijo en la pared.
Juanita
tenía uno más grande en su pecho el día de su muerte.
Aquella tarde no se compró pan, llovía mucho.
Se olvidó el niño, antes de ayer.
El perro pasea con su dueño por la acera
Marina duerme hace días.
Marcia Ondina Mantilla was born in León in 1966. A practicing lawyer, she is a member of the Nicaraguan Association of Writers. She was a co-founder of the literary group SPJO, with whom she published an anthology in 1997. Her poems have also appeared in the anthology Mujeres de Sol y Luna, published by the Nicaraguan Center for Writers. This poem comes from Episodios, a book of linked poems published by La Promotora Cultural Leonesa that reflect the current political situation via memories of the Somoza dictatorship and subsequent Sandinista uprising of the 1970s and 1980s. Ondina has suffered persecution under President Daniel Ortega's regime for her political stance, and this has caused her to lose her teaching position at the University of León.
These translations are a collaboration between Ulises Alaniz and Lauren Schenkman. Alaniz is a Nicaraguan poet from León, Nicaragua. He has participated in poetry recitals organized by La Promotora Cultural Leonesa and the International Poetry Festival of Granada. He is currently a master's student at the University of Southern Illinois. Lauren Schenkman is a Nicaraguan-American journalist and fiction writer. Other translations by Alaniz and Schenkman, including poems by Ondina and Alaniz, have been published in Tin House and decomp.