I Was Lucky
I was lucky to adapt my blood to conventions.
Another day among dull faces and from out of my mouth appear
Contradictory psalms.
I’ve also had bad luck
Men search for me with reproductive hope
As if the whole continuation of our species depended on me
Their sperm floods cities, prisons, nightclubs.
Their sons hate their hereditary marks.
They carry nothing to cover their lack of last names
They repeatedly crash into each other, loving this flaw
A sugar-coated man can be found everywhere.
No woman forgets the why of her discomfort
Especially when looking for stars during office hours
I’ve been lucky being a modern woman
With a sanguine circuit for a belly.
Celebration
I celebrate my permanence in the eye of the beast
I celebrate my lips that have remained restless
They know nothing of supplications.
I celebrate the infinite cycle
That is my permanence in the eye of the beast.
They will say that I was a bad seed
Defiant to the last drop
And that is why I celebrate the loftiness of statues
Sent to gift me the song of spikes
The same song that pierces my neck
For every statue out there is
A nasty woman like me.
Lourdes Ferrufino (b. 1992, Santa Rosa de Lima, La Unión) holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of El Salvador (UES - FMO). She became known via the women's literary contest La Flauta de los pétalos (2015) organized by the Center for Gender Studies at UES. She directs the poetry series La Página Desértica. She appears two anthologies of Salvadoran women poets: Las muchachas de la última fila (Zeugma editores, San Salvador, 2017) and Poeta Soy: Poesía de mujeres salvadoreñas (MINED, San Salvador, 2019). Her poetry has been published in Suplemento Tres Mil, Revista Cultura n.º 121, and various digital magazines. Her poetry chapbooks in Spanish include La Espina Etérea (poetry, San Miguel, 2016) and Diluvio (San Salvador, 2017). She is a dedicated teacher.
Nestor Gomez is a cadejo and translator of Salvadoran poetry. He is an MFA graduate of Saint Mary’s College of California and a PhD graduate of the University of Illinois Chicago.
