[The newborn sees…]
By Tilsa Otta
Translated By Farid Matuk
The newborn sees its mother's face for the first time
The way an astronaut regards earth from space
Sees himself in that inconstant topography
Gravity holds him
He lets go the cord and gets lost in the vastness
Now I lose consciousness to be born again I lose
Memory so I can learn my name
This sense of wholeness
Already my heart is elsewhere
We’ve hatched from the egg
Of some bird of paradise
So now beauty can breed with me
Copyright Credit: Tilsa Otta, "[The newborn sees…]" from The Hormone Of Darkness: A Playlist, trans. by Farid Matuk. Copyright © 2024 by Farid Matuk. Reprinted by permission of Graywolf Press, www.graywolfpress.org.
Source: The Hormone Of Darkness: A Playlist (Graywolf Press, 2024)