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Translated from Víctor Rodríguez Núñez’s the muskrat’s notebook by Katherine M. Hedeen
                                                                       for Janet McAdams

you obey disobedience
that benign fever
                                 rooted in twilight
you don’t transcend the tin funnel
where grace gushes
                                  unidirectional
you open the fan in the takeoff
but you only manage wind censoring
still you don’t yield
                                  envenomed quill

in the same trench as the savage
standing unarmored
the sun twists the lines
                                        never more parallel
fever is revenge
with a quick glance the mangos ripen
on the volcano perches
                                         the feathered corolla
this thorn you discreetly winnow
bowless toward the heart

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Víctor Rodríguez Núñez (Havana, 1955) is one of Cuba’s most outstanding and celebrated contemporary writers, with over fifty collections of his poetry published throughout the world. He has been the recipient of major awards all over the Spanish-speaking region, including, in 2015, the coveted Loewe Prize. His selected poems have been translated into Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Macedonian, Serbian, Swedish, and Vietnamese. He has been a riveting presence at the most important international literary festivals, having read in more than forty countries. In the last decade, his work has developed an enthusiastic readership in the U.S. and the UK, where he has published seven book-length translations. He divides his time between Gambier, Ohio, where he is currently Professor of Spanish at Kenyon College, and Havana, Cuba. More information at: www.victorrodrigueznunez.com

Katherine M. Hedeen is a translator, literary critic, and essayist. A specialist in Latin American poetry, she has translated some of the most respected voices from the region. Her publications include book-length collections by Jorgenrique Adoum, Juan Bañuelos, Juan Calzadilla, Juan Gelman, Fayad Jamís, Hugo Mujica, José Emilio Pacheco, Víctor Rodríguez Núñez, and Ida Vitale, among many others. Her work has been a finalist for both the Best Translated Book Award and the National Translation Award. She is a recipient of two NEA Translation grants in the U.S. and a PEN Translates award in the UK. She is a Managing Editor for Action Books. She resides in Ohio, where she is Professor of Spanish at Kenyon College. More information at: www.katherinemhedeen.com