Pervertere

As soon as the day is extinguished
and Night fills the sky with mirages
the bells of evil begin to toll
announcing the sins of the world.

To such a mournful song
dance thousands of creatures
about to satisfy their appetite.

They bellow, wail, and slither,
vermin in heat:
insatiable, frenetic, possessed.

Hedonism fornicates with vice, which
exhorts the tasting of its liquid.

Fruit of this courting: all types of beings
emerge from wickedness, repeat the coupling.

Without understanding
I wander
captive in this infra-world
where pain and pleasure entangle my senses.

Is it, alas, my destiny
or a simple corner
in which my innocence lost its sense of direction?

---

Pervertere (20) 

Tan pronto el día se extingue
y Noche llena el cielo de espejismos
comienzan a tañer las campanas del mal
anunciando los pecados del mundo. 

La melodía luctuosa
Hace bailar a miles de criaturas
A punto de saciar su apetito. 

Braman, ululan, reptan,
Alimañas en celo:
Insaciables, frenéticas, posesas. 

El hedonimso fornica con el vicio
quién le exhorta a probar de su líquido. 

Fruto de este cortejo: seres de toda clase
emergen de lo inicuo y repiten la cópula. 

Sin entenderlo,
vago
presa de este inframundo
donde el dolor y el placer conjungan mis sentidos. 

Acaso es mi destino
o tan solo un recodo
en el cual mi inocencia perdió su dirección?

---

Michael Ugalde Fuentes was born in San José Costa Rica in 1983. He is a poet, teacher and active member of the Taller Literario Don Chico. His poetry has appeared in places like Badlands (University of San Bernardino, California) and Conjetura (Universidad de Costa Rica) and the anthologies Taller Laboratorio Tráfico de Influencias and La Mandrágora. His first book Homos/(Opus) was published in 2019 and presented in Costa Rica and the Feria Internacional de Libro in Guatemala. He is currently working, along with Armando carro and other Costa Rican artists, on a play based on his first book.

Ignacio Carvajal is from San José Costa Rica. His poetry has appeared in places like Acentos Review and Rio Grande Review, as well as the anthologies The Wandering Song: Central American Writing in the United States and No Tender Fences. His bilingual collection Plegarias won first place in the Poetic Bridges Contest by Casa Cultural de las Américas and the University of Houston and will be published in November of 2019. Ignacio is a member of the Latino Writers Collective of Kansas City, the taller literario Don Chico, and the Board of Directors of Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review. He’s Assistant Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Kansas.