CORSINO FORTES ~

C O R S I N O    F O R T E S

P R O P O S I T I O N




Year by year  

             skull by skull

Faces circle

             the eye of the island

Where stone wells

             open

             in a goat's eye



And the earth's limbs

                    Erupt

In the mouths of the streets

            Statue of bread alone

            Statue of the sun's bread



Year by year

             skull by skull

Drums break

             the promise of the earth

With rocks

Restoring to the mouths

The lode

             Of many oars




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CORSINO FORTES
Selected Poems
translated from the Portuguese
by Daniel Hahn and Sean O'Brien
Archipelago Books 2015