About the Poet:
Victoria Tobar Fierro (Ambato, 1943). She has published poems And suddenly (1983), victories and defeats (1991), Word accomplice (1995), The victory, rose and vice versa -Antología- (1997) and References since (2001), Poetry disheveled (2006 ). In 2014 she published her memoir “La Toya”. The municipality of the city gives the award “Juan Leon Mera” by her first book in 1983. She has been selected in several anthologies of Ecuadorian and Latin American poetry; Cultural activist, media columnist and literary critic. She is one of the most important figures of contemporary poetry of Ecuador.
* below the translated versions, you will find the original poems
* Gina is the translator of all other Ecuadorian poets in this series unless otherwise specified
The Night
She is a widow
ultraconservative
that persists in mourning.
La Noche
Es una viuda
ultraconservadora
que se obstina en el luto.
Again
You always come back,
but like the sea and its tides.
Your returns have the rhythm of a solar eclipse.
You’re not a man for every day.
Otra Vez
Tu regresas siempre,
pero como el mar y sus mareas.
Tus vueltas tienen el ritmo de un eclipse de sol.
No eres hombre de todos los días.
Luck
It is a great good fortune to be a poet.
You’re never lonely even when you are alone.
And we are always three,
I, with an unfaithful friend and a faithful enemy
that’s the word.
Suerte
Es una suerte inmensa ser poeta.
Nunca estás solitaria aunque estés sola.
Y siempre somos tres,
Yo, con una amiga infiel y una enemiga fiel
que es la palabra.