There Was No Plot
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There were neither plots nor characters,
only places. Neighborhoods sliced
in half. Terraces and corridors
between roofless rooms. Profiles only.
Staggered
spaces. Far off a group
was sucked up
into its own restlessness: the after-dinner
conversation, the waiting, shuffle between
one door and another, shifts
in posture; remarks that from here,
where you hurried to leave,
were already beyond hearing.
Translation from the Spanish

Coral Bracho’s (b. 1951) early work altered the landscape of Mexican poetry. She is the recipient of many honors and awards, including the Aguascalientes National Poetry Prize, Xavier Villaurrutia Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Bracho has collaborated with several painters and is a member of Mexico’s National Organization of Artists.

Forrest Gander’s (forrestgander.com) most recent books are Be With (poems); Alice Iris Red Horse: Selected Poems, by Gozo Yoshimasu; and The Galloping Hour: French Poems, by Alejandra Pizarnik (with Patricio Ferrari). He lives in northern California. He translated Bracho’s collected poems, Firefly under the Tongue (New Directions).
More Poetry
Autumn 2019
World Literature Today’s autumn issue celebrates U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo with poems and an interview inside, and the cover feature devoted to Literary Activism commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Alcatraz occupation that began in November 1969, guest-edited by Allison Hedge Coke. As always, a generous selection of book reviews and other features round out the issue.