BEAUTY Beauty usually makes me sad (it cruelly imposes on me its victory, which is brief and generous in deceits, and it brings me the memory of other happier times). At the public pools, beauty wets backs and bronzes them with sun, shining with happiness. Beauty cuts the grass, distractedly, with its hands. Unaware and quiet, beauty lies there. It knows nothing of desire, of needing to die. Opportunistic illness, beauty will follow its path through increasingly-younger bodies toward eternity, without me.
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Poet bio: Ángel Erro (Burlada, Navarra, 1978) has published two poetry collections, ETA HARKADIAN NI in 2002 and GORPUTZEKO HUMOREAK in 2005, which won the Basque Language Critic's Prize and was a finalist for the National Poetry Prize. He currently lives in Madrid, Spain.
Translator bio: Lawrence Schimel (New York, 1971) writes in English and Spanish and has published over 100 books as author or anthologist, including poetry collections DESAYUNO EN LA CAMA (Egales) and DELETED NAMES (A Midsummer Night's Press). He has won the Lambda Literary Award twice. He lives in Madrid, Spain where he works as a Spanish->English translator.