Ana Lamela Rey
& Shilyh Warren (translator)
Two Poems
Note: These poems were originally published in Spanish in the volume La Exhibicionista by Ediciones CGP in 2014 and republished in 2021 by Ed. Gravitaciones (www.gravitaciones.com).
ANDO
ANDO como si anduviera entre nubes, con la cabeza pesada y los
ojos semicerrados y llenos de niebla. Pongo el parabrisas y se me
empaña el alma de polvo y lluvia de ayer.
Arranco el coche. Todavía me cuesta subir calles de adoquines
y envidias. Todavía me duele irme y cerrar las puertas sin mirar
hacia atrás.
I walk
I walk as if I were walking through clouds, head heavy and
eyes semishut, full of fog. I wipe the windshield and my
soul gets flecked by dust and yesterday’s rain.
I start the car. I still have trouble on steep streets of cobblestone
and envy. I still have trouble leaving and closing doors
without looking back.
ESTARÍAS MÁS CONTENTOS
ESTARÍAS MÁS CONTENTOS si me tapase con una manta gruesa,
si apagase la luz de mi cuerpo,
si cerrase mi casa con ciento cincuenta cerrojos
y diese vueltas y vueltas a las llaves.
Pero yo insisto, os llamo y abro mi blusa.
Os enseño mis pechos,
mis poros irritados de tanto dolor.
Os enseño el fondo de mis ojos.
el ventrículo más cansado de mi corazón.
Os enseño mi sexo
como los erizos que se abren al mundo.
Soy la exhibicionista de volcanes en erupción, de los huracanes
más sensibles, de guerras que no están lejos y os dan miedo, lo sé.
Soy la aspersora de sonrisas, de gestos inmensos. Esa materia
que atrae zonas invisibles de vuestros cuerpos y otras pequeñas
piedras.
Es peligroso cruzarse conmigo, lo entiendo.
Estaríais más tranquilas si no existiera.
You would be happier
You would be happier if I covered myself with a thick blanket,
if I turned off the light in my body,
if I locked my house with a hundred and fifty bolts
and turned the keys round and round.
But I insist, I beckon you and open my blouse.
I show everyone my breasts,
my pores irritated by so much pain.
I show you the deep end of my eyes,
the most tired ventricle of my heart.
I show you my sex
the way sea urchins open to the world.
I am the exhibitionist of erupting volcanoes, of the most sensitive
hurricanes, of not distant wars that frighten you, I know.
I am a sprinkler of smiles, of enormous gestures. The kind of matter
that attracts the invisible zones in your bodies as well as other smaller
pebbles.
So dangerous to cross paths with me, I understand.
You would be better off without me.
Residing in Asturias, Spain, Ana Lamela Rey is a philologist specialized in Hispanic Literature, a poet, and an accomplished artist, combining her poetic work with storytelling, music and theater. Her most recent poetry collections are La Otra (PiEdiciones 2019, Orpheus ediciones Clandestinas, 2021, bilingual edition (castilian/asturian) and Por mí volvería a nacer/Por mi diba volver a nacer (Ediciones Trabe 2025), an illustrated album in a bilingual edition (castilian/asturian).
Shilyh Warren is an academic, scholar and translator, currently based in Dallas, Texas. Her work has been published in Signs, Camera Obscura, South Atlantic Quarterly, and Feminist Media Histories, among others. Her research covers global film history, feminist theory and documentary studies. Her most recent book, co-edited with Najmeh Moradiyan-Rizi Women and Global Documentary: Practices and Perspectives in the 21st Century was published in 2025 by Bloomsbury Academic. Her translated work was launched by AzonaL.