Dialogue with the Mirror

You are always longing

for another state.

 

            A nostalgia for myself.

 

Your absence of self.

 

            A walking away over the waves.

 

And into the waves.

 

            What is there beyond horizon?

 

What isn’t here

in the thicket of presence.

 

            A mouth searching

            for the word that is its fruit.

 

Ripe with its own imagining.

 

            And bite like an island.

 

Yes, like an island.

Poet. Novelist. Essayist. Translator.

"Medina speaks in many voices, some of them soft and keening, some

loud with protest, and all of them reverberate with anger or sorrow at

the human condition." The Washington Post

Pablo Medina was born in Havana, Cuba, and came to New York City at the age of 12. He is the author of eleven books of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and translation. His sixth collection of poetry, Highway of Blazing Cars, is forthcoming from Hanging Loose Press. His fourth novel, Cubop City Blues, is forthcoming from Grove/Atlantic, Inc.  A recipient of numerous awards for his work, Pablo Medina resides in Boston and teaches writing, literature, and translation at Emerson College.