Ciaran’s Peculier [sic] Blog

Alfonsina Storni (1892-1938) is probably one of the finest Argentinean poers of the 20^th century. Her verses moved through a variety of styles and themes. Towards the end of her all-too-short life she was rent by despair. Her dear friend, the Uruguayan writer Horacio Quiroga Fonteza killed himself ain February 1927 and then she was diagnosed with breast cancer. One October morning she left her home in Mar del Plata and went to a nearby beach where it is believed she walked into the waves until the all-encompassing sea overwhelmed her body. Some hours later her body was recovered.

 Her poem Squares and Angles is typical of her more modernist poetry. It is true to its title in being angular if not jagged. I give here my free translation of the original Spanish whose soft and tender beauty no translation can fully do justice to. On a less elevated note. I feel that it captured the spirit of the now defunct Celtic tiger” in Ireland, as well as its despair.

Squares and angles

Houses in rows, houses in rows, houses in rows,
Square, square, square.
Houses in rows
People already have square souls.
Ideas in rows.
And angles on their backs..
I myself shed a tear yesterday,
Good heavens, a square one.

Here is one of her last poems, maybe the last (apologies for the translation).

 I’m going to sleep

Teeth of flowers, cap of dew,
Hands of herbs, you slender wet nurse,
Hold ready for me the earthly sheets,
And the quilt of weeded moss.

I’m going to sleep my mother, put me to bed.
Put a light for me at the headboard,
A constellation, the one you like,
They are all good. Lower it a little.

Leave me alone. You listen to the buds bursting,,
A heavenly foot rocks you from above,
And a bird traces some bars of music for you

So that you may forget…Thank you. Ah a request:
If he calls again by telephone,
Tell him he ought not insist she has left.

Alfonsina Storni