Athens Eco Latino

	Enero / January 2004 Vol. 1 Número / Issue 9

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Poesía

Poesía por Benjamin Milano

DESAYUNO

Para todos nosotros, sus retoños
y mi progenitor,
mi madre preparaba
café con leche al asomarse el sol.

A uno de mis hermanos,
a Cheo, lo mandaba
a comprar, en el quiosco de don Berto,
pan de agua, jamón, queso de papa

y en nuestro apartamento
de aquel dulce edificio, sin apuros,
el día comenzábamos
desayunando juntos.

Mas hoy maná no como bendecido
ni sorbo de un café santificado;
ahora me emborracho con recuerdos
y muerdo el duro pan del desamparo.

CAFÉ

Este café con natas, poco azúcar,
en colador de tela preparado,
tiene el aroma mismo
de un pasado profundo.
Me sabe a caserío:
a tiros, a bochinches, a peleas,
a compartir, a festejar, a juegos,
a problemas de clase.

Poetry

Poetry by Benjamin Milano

BREAKFAST
(Translated by George Meléndez)

For all of us, for my father
and his offspring,
my mother prepared
coffee with steamed milk as the sun rose.

She sent Cheo,
one of my brothers,
to buy bread, ham, and cheddar cheese
at don Berto's stand

and in our apartment
of that sweet building, without any rush,
our day began
by having breakfast together.

But these days I no longer eat blessed manna
nor do I sip sanctified coffee;
now I'm drunk with memories
and bite the hardened bread of loneliness.

COFFEE
(Translated by María Teresa Di Tore and Catharine Wall)

This coffee with skin, little sugar,
prepared in a cloth strainer,
has the same aroma
of a profound past.
It tastes like a tenement house:
like shots fired, like an uproar, like fights,
like sharing, like celebrations, like games,
like class conflict.