little body are many parts

Legna Rodríguez Iglesias was born in Camagüey, Cuba in 1984, and now lives in Miami. She works in a variety of genres, including poetry, short stories, novels, children’s books and theatre. She won the 2011 Premio Iberoamericano de Cuentos Julio Cortázar and the 2016 Premio Literario Casa de Las Américas, in theatre. Her poetry titles include Hilo + Hilo, Dame Spray, Transtucé, Chicle (ahora es cuando) and the dual language collection, Miami Century Fox (Akashic Books, US, 2017), winner of the 2016 National Poetry Series Paz Prize for Poetry. Her other titles include the novels Las analfabetas, Mayonesa bien brillante, and Mi novia preferida fue un bulldog francés, as well as the short story collection No sabe/no contesta. A dual language Spanish-English selection of her poems, Un cuerpecito son muchas partes / A little body are many parts, translated by Abigail Parry and Serafina Vick, was published in 2019 by Bloodaxe Books and the Poetry Translation Centre.

The Poetry Translation Centre gives the best contemporary poems from Africa, Asia and Latin America a new life in the English language, working with diaspora communities for whom poetry is of great importance. By fostering creative collaborations between poets and translators, the PTC produces high-quality translations that extend the audience for international poetry.

• Introduction 5 from Fertile Truce [2012]Fertile Truce 19Memory is a bullet train 21Thirty heads a day 23Spoilt 25Special Period 27Eat 29Rotten cherry 31Mad dog pack 33The cemetery 35Canaan 37 from Transtucted [2017]47 4152 4353 4554 4755 5157 5366 55 from Miami Century Fox [2017]Maggot people 59Ms Trolley remembers countries 61The day my girlfriend’s molars started hurting 63You don’t say 65Pure Jazz 67The head that filled with water 69What is my name? 71Giddy-up Johnny 73No flowers for me 75 from The Perfect Moment [2012]The day that I 79The head I lost 81Music for chameleons 85Red room 87Orange room 89Blue room 93White room 95 from Gum (Now is When) [2013]‘Calm down…’ 99‘I wanted to do some sort of poetic exercise…’ 101‘The one tying…’ 103‘When a 25-day-old cat dies…’ 103‘At the core of every being…’ 105‘Truly, it is a shame…’ 107‘When I send off my poems…’ 107‘I must ask you…’ 109 from Dame Spray [2016]Kenozero 113The Great Architect 115An accumulation of dry matter that is slow after floweringbut intensifies during the lactic phase 117My girlfriend leaves for Cancún today 119My girlfriend’s brother 121Graduate 123The quantity of water initially necessary to support thesubstratum is determined by its nature and dimensions 125Grandpa Brecht 129Bucket, rope, fire extinguisher, etc. 131I’m making friends with all the police in the city so I canrob a bank with my water pistol 133The importance of tolerance and its development 135Farmer’s treasure 137 from Sucking the stone [2013]The good life 141The ways 143I don’t know how to put this 145The law of dynamics 147Sucking the stone 149Kabuki theatre 151Sucking the stone 153The world of the senses 155Four by four 157 from Thread+Thread [2015]The thread 161To get what I’m given 163Cold beneath the moon 165The worst part 167Lips 169Easy 171How the violin sounds 173Kilometres 175The house 177I do not exist 179The thread 181 Notes 183 About the Authors 187