Generational

The cradle’s sturdiness lied,
the breasts with their warm milk lied,
the soothing hand on the forehead lied
and the colorful ball, and the yielding bread lied.

If they promised us a party
with cake and joys and garlands,
what are all these ropes doing
hanging from the ceiling? And this plate
on the table, full of teeth?

By Pere Antoni Pons
translated, from the Catalan, by María Cristina Fernández Hall

 
María Cristina Fernández Hall is a Creative Writing student at Columbia University. Her work and translations have been published in New Poetry, Surgam, Fair Observer, and Apogee Journal, amongst others. She was editorial intern for Sterling Publishing and BOMB magazine.

Pere Antoni Pons (1980–) is a Majorcan novelist, poet and journalist. His published works include, among others, the poetry books El fibló i la festa (2003) and Fervor tan fosc (2006), and the novels La felicitat dels dies tristos (2010) and Tots els dimonis són aquí (2011).