Leaves/Hojas

In “Leaves/Hojas,” Marcela Gómez Lugo transports us to a realm of feminine mysticism to engage with the pain and beauty of loving another and finding oneself. Our journey starts in “Old Leaves,” where images of earth and flesh illustrate the loss of the cosmic self in pursuit of the ephemeral first love. In “New Leaves,”after shame and disappointment, we emerge into a new season of self-love, leaving behind apologies and healing in the energy that surrounds her and is within her. A power that no one can take away.
–Camila Santiago Pérez

En este libro hay poesía. Hay hallazgos en el poema, donde la voz nos guía hacia el lugar donde ocurre su epifanía; así, también, una conciencia sobre la forma, una arquitectura del poema que ya anticipa un estilo, y que produce un diálogo entre esa arquitectura y un pensamiento que se forja en la escritura. Un erotismo luminoso, cándido, de concisión y concesiones al lector, permite una resonancia lírica. En esos instantes, osados y elegantes, a la vez, hay un intento sutil de control sobre lo que se escribe sobre el papel o sobre las hojas, lo que al final es la vida misma.
–Silvia Goldman

The call

I thought there was nothing left
but when I heard that you wandered the streets
empty handed and filled with regret,
I wanted to be the snow
I wanted to be the stone
I wanted to be the poison
I wanted to be everything you ravaged.
Because then you would have
inhaled my scent
devoured my body
chugged my love.
And maybe, just maybe,
something eternal would have remained of you.

La llamada

Pensé que sólo la nada quedaba
pero al oír tu naufragio entre las calles,
con las manos vacías y vestido de despecho,
quise ser la nieve
quise ser la piedra
quise ser el veneno
quise ser todo lo que devoraste.
Porque así al menos hubieras
respirado mi aroma
devorado mi cuerpo
resoplado mi amor.
Y, quizás, sólo tal vez,
algo eterno hubiera quedado de ti.

Marcela Gómez Lugo, dancer, teacher, writer, and translator, was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1996. She began her pre-professional training as a dancer at the age of fourteen under the direction of
María Teresa Robles at Andanza School of Dance. Her dance training highlights include summer intensives with American Ballet Theatre and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. In 2019, she graduated, with the highest honors, from Mercyhurst University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance: minors in Dance Pedagogy and Psychology. Marcela has danced professionally with Ballet314 and as a Trainee for The Big Muddy Dance Company (2019-2020). Her passion for arts, education, and linguistics led her to embrace translation with a variety of projects, ranging from literary texts (books of history and fiction) to entire websites. Marcela is currently located in St. Louis, MO, where she is working as a dance teacher and freelance dance artist. Leaves / Hojas is her first book. In it, the reader will enjoy her work as a poet and a translator.
 
Edmond Thommen, the author of the cover image and a Swiss man living in (Sydney) Australia, describes himself, first and foremost, as a Photographic Artist. The female figure forms the basis of his art. His work is “layered” and is visually and intellectually demanding on the viewer to find the form. In doing so, viewers delve beyond the surface. You can find the images of master Thommen at thommenart.com.au.