Martin Corless-Smith es poeta, traductor literario, ensayista y pintor. Nació y se crió en Worcestershire (West Midlands), Inglaterra. Estudió pintura en la University of Reading antes de viajar a los Estados Unidos en 1989 donde continuó sus estudios plásticos recibiendo un Master of Fine Arts en Arte de la Southern Methodist University de Dallas, Texas. A partir de 1993 comenzó formalmente sus estudios literarios recibiendo un MFA en Poesía de la University of Iowa y un Doctorado en Escritura Creativa & Literatura Inglesa de la University of Utah. Autor de numerosos títulos, sus libros de poesía más recientes incluyen Bitter Green [Verde amargo] (Fence Books, 2015), The Fool & The Bee [El bobo y la abeja] (Shearsman Books, 2019), The Melancholy of Anatomy [La melancolía de la anatomía] (Shearsman Books, 2021) y The Ongoing Mystery of the Disappearing Self [El misterio continuo del yo que desaparece] (SplitLevel Texts, 2021). Entre sus traducciones se destaca Odious Horizons: Some Versions of Horace [Horizontes odiosos: algunas versiones de Horacio] (Miami University Press, 2019). Es también autor de la novela This Fatal Looking Glass [Este espejo fatal] (SplitLevel Texts, 2015) y de la colección de ensayos The Poet’s Tomb [La tumba del poeta] (Parlor Press, 2020). Es profesor de Escritura Creativa en Boise University donde fundó el sello Free Poetry, publicando folletos de tamaño de bolsillo desde 2006 y libros a partir de 2020. Desde hace más de dos décadas reside en Boise, Idaho, en el noroeste de los Estados Unidos. Bitter Green es su primer libro traducido al español.

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Martin Corless-Smith is a poet, literary translator, essayist and painter. He was born and raised in Worcestershire (West Midlands), England. He studied painting at the University of Reading before travelling to the United States in 1989 where he continued his visual studies and received an MFA in Art from Southern Methodist University in Dallas. In 1993 he formally began his literary studies, obtaining an MFA in Poetry from the University of Iowa and a PhD in Creative Writing & English Literature from the University of Utah. Author of numerous titles, his most recent books of poetry include Bitter Green (Fence Books, 2015), The Fool & The Bee (Shearsman Books, 2019), The Melancholy of Anatomy (Shearsman Books, 2021), and The Ongoing Mystery of the Disappearing Self (SplitLevel Texts, 2021). His translations include Odious Horizons: Some Versions of Horace (Miami University Press, 2019). He is also the author of a novel, This Fatal Looking Glass (SplitLevel Texts, 2015) and a collection of essays, The Poet’s Tomb (Parlor Press, 2020). He teaches Creative Writing at Boise University where he founded the Free Poetry imprint, publishing chapbooks since 2006 and books beginning in 2020. For more than two decades he has resided in Boise, Idaho. Bitter Green is his first book translated into Spanish.

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Todo el verano

Las semanas se abrían como piernas
Y cada uno de los jóvenes sacaba su turno
Con el verano indiferente
En una ruina de sacrificio
y asombro enfermizo.
Por fin, la última puerta de
El Burdel se abrió —
Por fin la gran puta
Del pueblo se desnudaba allí para ellos.

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All summer long

The weeks fell apart like legs
And each boy took his turn
With the indifferent summer
In a ruin of sacrifice
and sick astonishment.
At last, the last door of
The Adulthouse was opened—
At last the great whore
Of the town was naked there for them.

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Droitwich, fines de julio de 2011

Los árboles frutales en su esplendor
nadie debería dudar
que es verano una vez más
un cielo nublado y frío pero
el verdor abunda —el jardín
llevado al límite de su crecimiento
y yo aquí nuevamente retornado
a la misma tierra de mi nacer
y esas dos almas siguen aquí
cautivas de su propia desesperación
y alegrías —y yo lejos ahora
en un estado ausente que apenas conozco.

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Droitwich, late July 2011

The fruit trees are in fruit
and none should doubt
that this is summer once again
a cold cloud sky but
greens abound—the garden
pushed to the limit of its growth
and I am here again returned
to the very dwelling of my birth
and those two souls still here
and captive to their own despair
and joys—and me away now
in some absent state I hardly know.

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Fort Street, Boise, agosto de 2011/2

Mi hermosa lavandera
Factótum —portadora de la palabra
Qué tarea cuidadosa
Has dejado sin hacer
Estorninos en la puerta de casa
Se ríen al saltar sobre la hierba
Las lavandas en macetas
Diversamente muertas o en flor

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Fort Street, Boise, August 2011/2

My beautiful laundress
Factotum—portmanteau human
What careful task
Have you left undone
The starlings are at my door
Laughing their walks across the lawn
The lavenders in pots
Are variously dead or blossoming

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