“U.S. Unemployed Jumps to 12.5 Million” by Abigail Templeton

Abigail Templeton

U.S.UNEMPLOYED JUMPS TO 12.5 MILLION

Colocamos em caixas
Convertidos en cajas
We have become boxes

empilhadas uma a outra
una encima de otra
stacked on top of each other

esperando serem abertas.
esperando que nos abran.
waiting to be opened.

Nos preguntamos se o Free
Preguntamos si el Free
We ask if the Free

Grand slam inclui
Grand Slam incluye
Grand Slam includes

suco. Despertamos durante a noite
jugo. Despertamos en la noche
juice. We awake in the night

adicionando e subtraindo
sumando y restando
adding and subtracting

os cabelos nas nossas cabeças.
los pelos de nuestras cabezas.
the hairs on our heads.

Somos cardacos
Somos cordones
We are shoelaces

amarrado duas vezes,
atados dos veces,
double knotted,

esperando não quebrar.
esperando que no nos rompamos.
hoping not to break.

from Rattle #33, Summer 2010

__________

Abigail Templeton: “I come from a family of storytellers. Sitting around the dinner table my sister and I used to beg our dad to tell us about his childhood. Our favorite story was the one about the time he wore a snorkel mask in the bathtub to avoid having to go to baseball practice. My own writing can also be summarized in a story; a friend’s mom once analyzed my handwriting. Among other traits she said I was a very talented liar. I think that is where my ability to write comes from. In my poems I like to stretch and twist reality, searching for a deeper pattern of human behavior, some sort of pulse that we can all relate to.”

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