Two Poems by Daniela Prado Translated by Lizzie Fox and Jeannine Marie Pitas

Rituals

I don’t know if life
will always be this brink between
adolescence and adulthood
the salty high of crying
once a day at least

Or this desire
to stop explaining existence
Hunger
the need for heat
for sex
without love
Everything that makes us
repulsive, vulnerable

In myself I see that same broken beast
I spoke so ill of:
a puppet without purpose

Like the angry god I am
I kiss my cheeks
forgive myself
pray
lullaby
and lay me down to sleep.






Rituales

No sé si la vida
Siempre será este umbral entre
la adolescencia y la adultez
La embriaguez salada del llanto
al menos una vez por día

O estas ganas
de no explicar el existir
El hambre
la necesidad de calor
o de sexo
entre personas que no se aman
Todas esas cosas que nos hacen
repulsivos, vulnerables

Veo en mí ese animal fracturado
del que tanto mal hablé:
Una marioneta sin destino

Como el enojado dios que soy
beso mis mejillas
me perdono
rezo
me arrullo
y me acuesto a dormir.










There’s a Dead Bird
 
There’s a dead bird
in that woman’s throat
she crosses the street
she crosses my body
and checks the lines of time
in her womb, on my forehead
She’s an animal
who folds herself in fear
and clings to my back
She caresses my lips
with wet hands
and discovers gardens
within our sex
A fine thread
ripples over our worlds
they kiss
from different places
whenever we look in the mirror.







Hay un pájaro muerto

Hay un pájaro muerto
En la garganta de esa mujer que atraviesa la calle
que atraviesa mi cuerpo
y revisa las líneas del tiempo
en su vientre, en mi frente
Es un animal
que se pliega con miedo
y me abraza la espalda
Me acaricia los labios con las manos mojadas
Y descubre jardines dentro de nuestro sexo
Ondula
un pequeño hilo sobre nuestros mundos
que se besan
desde partes diferentes
cada que nos miramos al espejo.

Daniela Prado (Cali, 1994) is a Colombian poet and multimedia artist. She is founding editor of both Mujer Oblicua, a cultural and literary organization dedicated to increasing the visibility of Colombian women poets and artists, and Tristes Trópicos Editorial, a small press dedicated to publishing poetry by young and emerging Colombian and Latin American writers. She is also a visual and collage artist with the Bad Education Collage project. Her books of poetry include Espacios Habitables (Sic Semper Ediciones, 2019), Mujer Oblicua (Tristes Trópicos, 2019) and Ya no soy esta carne trémula (Proteo Editorial, 2021).

Lizzie Fox is a writer, translator, and performer. Her work has been supported by the Rona Jaffe Foundation, the Bread Loaf Translators’ Conference, the Carolyn F. Walton Cole Foundation, and elsewhere. Lizzie recently performed in the Off-Broadway premiere of her translation of The Martyrdom, a Medieval Latin play by Hrotsvitha, the first-known female playwright. MFA: University of Arkansas.

Jeannine Marie Pitas is a teacher, writer, and Spanish-English literary translator living in Pittsburgh, PA. She teaches at Saint Vincent College and is on staff at Eulalia Books, a small press dedicated to publishing Latin American authors appearing in English for the first time. Her co-translation, with Lizzie Fox, of Daniela Prado’s book Sideways Woman is forthcoming from Lugar Común Editorial. 

21 July 2026