SageGreenJournal.org voices out of the West, mostly poetry, personal to planetary...
John Casquarelli
Santa Fe, New Mexico
John is s the author of two full-length collections: On Equilibrium of Song (Overpass Books, 2011) and Lavender (Authorspress, 2014) and Chairperson of the Santa Fe chapter (The Santa Fe Poetry Trails) of the New Mexico State Poetry Society (NMSPS).
Luis Figueredo, John Casquarelli's grandfather, was a poet, musician, and businessman in Havana, Cuba, where he typed out his collection of poems in 1963. Luis was also the grandson of Perucho Figueredo, composer of “La Bayamesa” (the Cuban National Anthem).
Havana Dialogue
is John's current project combining his grandfather's poems in Spanish with his own responses, in English.
from Havana Dialogue
by John Casquarelli & Luis Figueredo
I.
Claro de luna que mi camino alumbra
Con el suelo por alfombra y por luz la estrella,
Tu guías mis pasos en la penumbra
Llevando mis pensamientos hasta ella.
En el silencio de la tranquila noche
El canto de la chicharra parece sinfonía,
Que en mis oídos suena con derroche
De música grata y de alegría.
Canta la lechuza en la distancia,
Sóla vaya, mal acompañada, digo,
Y sin temor por mi camino con arrogancia
Bajo el claro de luna sigo.
De mis pasos la cuenta he perdido,
En el cielo aún la luna brilla,
Aquella estrella doquier me ha seguido
Y en el horizonte surge otra lucecilla.
Nuevo amanecer y nueva esperanza
Despuntan del horizonte en el confín,
Por el camino sigo mi andanza
Bajo el claro de luna y la estrella hasta el fin.
II.
I pull the curtains down and imagine
That you’re next to me sprawled in
Sunflowers. Not like one of those
CGI lifeless Sunday matinees that do
Nothing to cultivate our fetishes.
There are worlds that we share,
Which have yet to be defined.
Battered cars, the old apartment
My father said was my first home,
My indecision between water and
Whiskey, and watching the daylight
Pass without answers to my questions
In the humidity of palm tree July
Summers, vibrating in red hemispheres.
We admit we would do it all again.
To be that poem both here and nowhere
In time. To be symmetrical with the dim
Light in the cavern, looking up and
Thinking it’s enough to let the words
Greet us under sheets and laughter.
from Havana Dialogue
SageGreenJournal.org is a non-commercial project, an online anthology, to share a poetic vision of the land we love.
We have no permanent office although we do have deep roots in western Colorado.
You can write us at Box 160 Norwood CO 81423, or better yet, email us, by clicking
or, if you use a webmail system, write to hello (at) sagegreenjournal.org