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Premio Victoria Urbano de Creación: Poesía de mujeres 2007
Finalista: Hedy Habra, Western Michigan University
Poemas: Simulacra, Unborn , Evening Walk, Mascarade, Bricolage
Simulacra
At sunset, evading the canvas, her weary brush
rests, inert, a broken stem.
----Drawn to the stream's silent
murmur, she watches lines of liquid light encircle white boulders, tremble into a mosaic of reflections.
The painter sits still, loosens her bow, wishes
she’d lie on the riverbed,
----water running like fingers
through her hair, the way the undercurrent combs
long wavering algae, willowing over rippled sand.
At a distance, passing clouds delineate black
naked branches, heavy
----with birds like berries.
-She thinks of paper, pen and ink, reaches for her nearby portfolio leaning
against the abandoned
easel. Unable to move, her hair, entangled with
mossy filaments, flows
-----through crystalline
--waters. Reclined, she sees the birds fly,
clouds disappear as night falls over the creek.
Unborn
I have no face, no eyes, no ears,
no lips, no name,
a flower swollen from the wild
seed of their eyes,
elytra’s spark
in the darkening riverbed,
a trembling protean flame
rising from an elusive space
where skin meets skin.
Hand in hand,
they watch me grow tongues
of flame licking the warm air,
extending like fingers in a glove,
intertwined vines
blossoming in fiery petals.
They hear a droplet bursting
on a tin gutter, a crack in the icy
roof, a tear of melting snow,
the rustling of dry leaves nearby,
read the sudden silence
of wind chimes,
hear me whisper: yes, I am, I know. . .
Evening Walk
I stand, arms wide-open, feel
-------the wind
over the greatest surface
--------------but my arms
can’t hold it all,
wish I had a cape,
-------I’d lift batlike,
sift messages,
--------------lost in the air,
between a lift and pause
of breath,
discarded words, letters
highlighted
-------with my own colors.
--------------I would walk
-------on the wet sand
--------------arms stretched-out
as if about to fly or sail,
-------anchored to the shore
by the weight
-------of memories,
of minutes, heavy with absence,
-------phone conversations
silent pauses
where only presence matters.
Mascarade
When a child, fingers
stained with golden dust,
a softened imprint
of impalpable wings,
I pinned over velvet
the cause of my joy.
Now I wonder.
What are they really,
if not worms in disguise
wearing a carnival mask,
rising for a day
to drink and mate,
as we, earthbound,
indulge in the illusion
of love, turn
into flying petals,
expose ourselves
to a touch,
a scorching light.
Bricolage
Go every day a little deeper
into the woods, collect acorns,
twigs, thorns, fallen leaves,
pine needles, a fern’s curl,
a bird’s nest, a lost feather,
spring air, hot, humid air, a raindrop,
a touch of blue, a ripple,
and why not the hush
of your steps over moss,
the trembling of leaves
at dusk against black bark?
Put it all in a bag and shake it:
you will retrace your steps
within the clearing, hear frightened
flights, see the rain darken the deck,
flatten oak leaves, silence songs,
answer the root’s mute prayer.
Nota biográfica:
Poeta y ensayista de origen libanés, Hedy Habra dicta cursos de español en Western Michigan University donde se doctoró en literatura hispanoamericana. Ha publicado artículos sobre numerosos autores españoles e hispanoamericanos, entre ellos, Mario Vargas Llosa, sobre quien escribió su tesis doctoral, La creación de submundos: lo visual en la narrativa de Mario Vargas Llosa. Sus artículos han aparecido en revistas como, Revista de Estudios Hispánicos, Hispanófila, Chasqui, Latin American Literary Review e Inti entre otras. Su obra creativa en francés, inglés y español se encuentra en revistas como Linden Lane Magazine, Negative Capability, Parting Gifts, Explicación de Textos Literarios, Puerto del Sol, Poet Lore y Nimrod. Sus poemas figuran en Arab American and Diaspora Literature, editado por Nathalie Handal e Inclined to Speak: Contemporary Arab American Poetry, edidato por Hayan Sharara. Su poemario, “Tea in Heliopolis” está bajo consideración editorial y está terminando una colección de cuentos.
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