“Congregations” & “The Metaphysical Countrygirl”: two poems by Omar Pérez López

“Congregations”

One fisherman alongside the other
one seagull alongside the other
seagulls over the fishermen.


“The Metaphysical Countrygirl”

You, functional space
variants in voltage, the only light
Transitory effect of Love
several different lights
Sustain
Sustain them
you sustain them.

Translated from the Spanish by Kristin Dykstra

—Omar Pérez López (1964- ) “The Metaphysical Countrygirl” and “Congregations” from Did You Hear about the Fighting Cat? (Shearsman Books, 2010). Read writer and translator Daniel Borzutzky’s insightful January 2011 article “Zen in Cuba: Omar Pérez is an island unto himself.”