Gemma Gorga: Pomegranate
Translated from the Catalan by Sharon Dolin
I pry out the seeds with my fingers and all
my memories spill onto the frosty marble
counter. Little, lit up like ruby-red carnival lights,
rough as the cat tongue of Time
inviting us to sit at the table to gobble us up
in a mouthful. The pomegranate returns
late autumn, ready to ruin us, on whichever night
we are in the kitchen, distracted by dinner: very lightly
it stains our fingers that pensive, murky color,
the color hours take on that won’t
clot—the open color of memory.
L’esgrano amb els dits i salten tot de records
sobre la llum gebrada del marbre. Petits,
encesos com bombetes vermelles de fira,
asprosos com la llengua felina del temps
que ens convida a seure a taula per engolir-nos
d’una bocada. La magrana torna cada f
inal de tardor, disposada a devastar-nos
una nit qualsevol, mentre som a la cuina
distrets amb el sopar: molt lleument va tacant-nos
els dits amb aquell color pensatiu i tèrbol,
el color que tenen les hores que no acaben
de coagular, el color obert de la memòria.
Gemma Gorga was born in Barcelona in 1968. She has published six collections of poetry in Catalan. Her most recent collection Mur (Barcelona: Meteora, 2015) won the Premi de la Critica de Poesia Catalana. Her new book of poems, Viatge al centre, is forthcoming in 2020. She is Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Spanish Literature at the University of Barcelona.
Gemma Gorga was born in Barcelona in 1968. She has published six collections of poetry in Catalan. Her most recent collection Mur (Barcelona: Meteora, 2015) won the Premi de la Critica de Poesia Catalana. Her new book of poems, Viatge al centre, is forthcoming in 2020. She is Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Spanish Literature at the University of Barcelona.
