About the Poet:
Ruth Patricia Rodríguez (Ecuador- 1966) Novel and poetry writer. Winner of national contests of children’s and youth stories. Representative of Ecuador in the World Assembly of Youth Artists for Peace, in the Republic of Bulgaria. In 2005 he received the Pablo Palacio award, to literary merit, granted by the Provincial Council of Loja. His works include: more than a dream (1978, tale), from the blue mud (1988, poetic prose and story). The balcony of colors (1990, tale), servant tongue (1993, poetry). At the edge of Clepsidra (1995, novel).Deseabulos (1998, tale anthology of the “Imaginar” Cultural Network). Impudica (2007, poetry). Writing is Formidable (2008, text of study for essay). Crystal Prostitutes (2010, novel). The certainty of omens (2011, collective book of short stories). The sea in me (2012, poetry). Formidable essays (2014, study for essay writing) to the left of the poem (poetry, 2014). Teacher at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito.
* 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
from poems of The sea in me (2012)
Hangover
I wanted to bite you, blue fruit
I wanted to inhabit you, ghost town
I wanted to listen to you, throaty whirlwind
I wanted to sink me, abyss
So I sat on your shores
The single eye at the forehead looked at you
And I mated diluted and absolute
I enjoyed your pagan party
I begged your same fate
I regretted to you of my crimes
Now that I’ve tried what you taste like
That I have been a guest of your deep Tower
Without been able to name you a single word
A cataclysm expels me from your center
A taste of oil and pesticide burns my buds
A vision of death horrifies me
You are no longer memory of the Moon
Your surface is shroud of fishes and molluscs
Your bellow is echo, a knock of garbage cans
And even if you inhabit deeply in yourself, in the outside you don´t reflect it
You are no longer the diluted dream
It´s been a long time ago, since you stopped being the sea
Resaca
Quería morderte, fruta azul
Quería habitarte, pueblo fantasma
Quería escucharte, ronco torbellino
Quería hundirme, abismo
Para hacerlo me senté en tus orillas
Te miró el único ojo de la frente
Y me apareé diluida y absoluta
Disfruté de tu fiesta pagana
Imploré tu misma suerte
Me arrepentí ante ti de mis delitos
Ahora que he probado a lo que sabes
Que he sido huésped de tu profunda torre
Sin que haya podido nombrarte una palabra
Un cataclismo me expulsa de tu centro
Un sabor a petróleo y pesticida me quema las papilas
Una visión de muerte me horroriza
Ya no eres memoria de la luna
Tu superficie es mortaja de peces y moluscos
Tu bramido es eco, un golpear de tarros de basura
Y aunque en el fondo te habites, afuera no reflejas
Ya no eres el sueño diluido
Hace tiempo que dejaste de ser mar