Francisco Aragón

Café Central

(versión en espaņol)


Plaza del Ángel, Madrid

Of the three
    the one on his feet, a Dane--
slightly hunched, his arms loosely

    hugging, from behind, the hip-
shaped instrument of wood, his fingers
    punishing the strings picking

up speed as he grunts
    just audibly, the notes
of his solo

    within the piece, his forehead
near the rafters
    glistening... till he gives

the one from Catalonia
    at the keys
who can't see a thing

    in or out of those shades
a look, as if
    to say almost pleading reel

me in!
So when finger and thumb
    strike-lighting the fuse-
both player and bass are pulled

    back down between piano
and drums, the three
    in the end hovering

safely near the ground again

In memory of Tete Montoliu (1933-1997)


Francisco Aragón is a native of San Francisco and the former editor of The Berkeley Poetry Review. He is the author of Light, Yogurt, Strawberry Milk (Chicano Chapbook Series 1999) and its expanded bilingual version, Jugglers y otros poemas (Momotombito 2002). He holds degrees in Spanish from The University of California - Berkeley and New York University, respectively, and an MA in English from The University of California - Davis, where he was awarded an Academy of American Poets Prize. A longtime resident of Madrid, Spain, his work has appeared in the anthologies, American Diaspora: Poetry of Displacement (University of Iowa 2001) and Inventions of Farewell: A Book Displacement (W.W. Norton 2001), as well as numerous journals, including Puerto del Sol, Luna and the online journal, Jacket. He is the founding editor of Momotombo Press, whose inaugural volume was Mark My Words: Five Emerging Poets. He is currently a fellow at the University of Notre Dame, where he is completing his MFA.

 








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