I first came across the work of Argentinean poet Alfonsina Storni while researching the epigraph for my multigenerational saga This Fierce Blood (Acre, 2021). Struck by the integration of physical and metaphysical elements in Muna Lee’s 1925 translation, “Running Water,” I was compelled to dig deeper into the large body of work Storni published during her relatively short life. Her 1918 poem “Viaje” serendipitously references one of the main themes of my novel—a “gato nocturno” who moves between the physical and spirit worlds. My translation, “Journey,” came about when I was unable to find an English version I felt captured the original work. Born in Switzerland in 1892, Storni emigrated with her family at the age of four to the provinces of Argentina. From a working-class background, she was among the first to benefit from new educational opportunities for women in Buenos Aires. She did not live a conventional lifestyle, which her work reflected. Writing from a complex feminist perspective at a time when this was not common practice in Latin America, Storni is credited along with Uruguayan poet Delmira Agustini for influencing a new style of female eroticism in Spanish-language poetry. In her poems, she integrates natural imagery with layers of human experience (body, intellect, soul)—a quality I strive for in my fiction. This sense of artistic resonance helped me approach the translation in the spirit of collaboration. Though over a hundred years old, Storni’s work is timeless for its multitextured, subversive portrayal of the feminine.
Read the poem this note is about, “Journey.”
Malia Márquez is a writer with roots in the Southwest and New England. Her first novel, This Fierce Blood (Acre Books, 2021), is a multicultural saga.