SAKRA BOCCATA(2)

José Antonio Mazzotti

from: Sakra Boccata

Translation by Clayton Eshleman

5

Because blessed You are among all women
And blessed this fleshy bulk like a dog rose
It saves my soul with the Transubstantiation of the Flesh
In Wine and Bread of the Glory on this altar I sacrifice myself
I feed my goddess as if she were a sea monster
I kiss the two cheeks of her Face
Saintly Godmother Mother of Vice
Surrender to us the sinners
Deliver the fish as you choose
                                                   	Give us your peace
Because You are blessed
Among all women
And blessed is the fruit
Of the white juice and of the transparent
Juice

6

                                                                                             I sing exactly
                                                                                                       like I cry

                                                                                                       Bandeira
Mussel every night when the bonfires howl and birds do not fly overhead *
Mussel because this mounting is sweeter than a cardinal’s melody
At the hour of the Holy of
Holies the delights of the fingertips
Are dissolved in the mouth
The music crawls
With the strength of caparisons
Mussel clean and oblong secretly opening
Its aroma of sandalwood its sweetness
Of lemonade
It places its back on the nacre
Enabling the perfection of its lines to be contemplated
A little creature a mammal fetus
In the abject speed of the centuries
Mussel sky-blue and white like the air over the Pole
Its kingdom of broken up ice travels through the ocean
Mixing with glaciers
Unleashing dense rain when touched by the Sun
Mussel that moistens the dunes and disembarks
In order to declare Independence
Mussel lost one Sunday night
Without a Father in the world
Mussel like an abandoned child at the satanic hour
Mussel that nourishes even the last papilla
7
You tell me you are sad LittleKrazyOne because the kingdom
     is in revolt
Barbarians move along the northern coast
In the south the senators are demanding special deals
And in the Forum they question the Majesty of your forehead
These fools forget that You reign with the same freedom
That you gave them to exist and to move through the metropolis
To dream of meadows and lakes their feet have never tread
To touch with their eyes the stars that mark the path
And now they want you as a prisoner
And at their service
And they tear out your wings those feathers they use
To stir up lies 

Oh LittleKrazyOne Queen my Queen
Of all the beatified
And of the poor who accept your words
Like consecrated bread
We’ll remain at your side unto Death
Your Empire is our Salvation
From You rises the column that supports the constellations
And on them we read our poems
That extol the glory of your power
The beauty that surpasses every eye and every tongue
The sweetest cavern in which the world is born
And where all grief is consoled
With your vinous flavor

TRANSLATOR’S NOTES
Concerning the title of the poem, Mazzotti writes: “Sakra Boccata is a title coined after words for Sacred and Mouthful in Spanish/Italian. The Italian ‘boccata’ also refers to strongly exhaled or foul breath. In Spanish, the equivalent would be ‘bocanada,’ a word that can be divided into ‘boca’ (mouth) and ‘nada’ (nothing), a metaphor for the impotence of written poetry facing the splendor of poetic reality.
‘Sakra’ also evokes the Quechuan ‘saqra,’ a mischievous demon. Thus Sakra Boccata can also be read as “a mouthful from the Devil,’ which can refer to cunnilingus.
The divine breath that God breathed into matter as well as a sense of poetry as an art that creates life are also present in the title. These ideas are of medieval origin at a time when poetry was conceived as the Queen of Arts and Sciences, as it should be.”
Section 6: “Mussel because this mounting:” the word “mounting” to pick up alliteration with “Mussel,” (“choro” in Spanish) and to render “chanto,” based on the verb “chanter,” Peruvian slang for “intercourse.”
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