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 BandeiraMussel 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 papilla7You 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 flavorTRANSLATOR’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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