THE ENCLOSURE
By Edgar Rincón Luna
Translation by Anthony Seidman
At a certain moment
after having left home
you thought that you had forgotten something
an object
something uncertain
and that it was necessary to turn back
Once in particular
while in the middle of childish games and glee
a word took you by surprise
and you turned your gaze elsewhere in search of it
Then with undeniable fear
a voice surprised you while you spoke
another voice
simple another
And when the vast and
traversable night offered herself to you
you became aware how
between the dust and the city
for us
poetry was building an enclosure
EL CERCO
Por Edgar Rincón Luna
En el español original
En algún momento
después de haber salido de casa
pensaste que algo se te había olvidado
un objeto
algo desconocido
y que era necesario regresar
Alguna vez
en medio del juego infantil y la risa
una palabra te tomó por sorpresa
y volviste tus ojos a otro sitio buscándola
Entonces entre el miedo innegable
una voz te soprendió mientras hablabas
otra
simplemente otra
Y cuando la noche se te ofreció vasta
recorrible
te diste cuenta
de cómo entre el polvo y la ciudad
la poesía se nos fue levantando un cerco
(Today’s poem is taken from the collection Aquí empieza la noche interminable (Tierra Adentro; Mexico City). Different versions of today’s poem appeared in Hunger Magazine (2003) and The Bitter Oleander (2010). “El Cerco” and this translation appear here today with permission from both the poet and the translator.)
Edgar Rincón Luna is a poet from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. He is the author of several collections including Aquí empieza la noche interminable (Tierra Adentro) and Puño de Whiskey (Ediciones sin nombre). His poetry has appeared in dozens of journals in Mexico, Spain, and the United States, including Reverso, Beyond Baroque, Hunger, and The Bitter Oleander.
Editor’s Note: Inherent in the words, imagery, and meter of today’s poem, simplicity dances with vastness in a way that at once lulls me and keeps me alert. Simple, elegant, beautiful; culminating in a final stanza that is as lovely and evanescent as the dust it’s built upon.
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las afinidades electivas / las elecciones afectivas
As It Ought To Be 
absolutely stellar- those dust motes! thanks for giving us the (original) language- as you know, poetry in Spanish is the end ‘nd beginning of it All!
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