THE CARIBBEAN

By Nicolás Guillén
Translated By Aaron Coleman
In the aquarium of the Great Zoo
the Caribbean slips by.

            This animal,
enigmatic and maritime,
has a crest of crystal glass,
a blue back, a green tail,
an underbelly of compact coral,
and the gray fins of a hurricane.
On the aquarium, this inscription:
                                                     “Caution: it bites.”
 
Translated from the Spanish

Notes:

This poem is part of the portfolio “Nicolás Guillén: Maker and Breaker of Forms.” You can read the rest of the portfolio in the September 2024 issue. The poems in this folio come from The Great Zoo by Nicolás Guillén, translated by Aaron Coleman (University  of Chicago Press, 2024). El Gran Zoo © 2023 by Nicolás Guillén, first published in 1967. Translation © 2024 by Aaron Coleman. Reprinted by permission of the University of Chicago Press and the Estate of Nicolás Guillén. All rights reserved.

Source: Poetry (September 2024)