Translated from the Spanish by John Pluecker
Goliath
They killed one of El Pareja’s neighbors:
gunshot in the back; expanding bullet.
The migra said the victim was smuggling people, drugs;
said it was self-defense,
said he only fired after being attacked with stones.
And we all know what stones can do.
Original Text
Goliat
Mataron a un vecino del Pareja:
balazo en la espalda; bala expansiva.
El migra dijo que la víctima era traficante de gente, de droga;
que fue en defensa propia,
que solo disparó después de ser atacado con piedras.
Y todos sabemos lo que pueden lograr las piedras.
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Omar Pimienta Tijuana B.C 1978. Su obra explora cuestionamientos de identidad, trans-nacionalidad, poéticas de emergencia, paisajes sociopolíticos y memoria. Recibió su maestría en Artes Visuales por la Universidad de California en San Diego 2010 y Actualmente es candidato a Doctorado en Literatura por la UCSD. Su obra ha sido presentada en galerías museos y centros culturales de E.U. México, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Alemania, Dinamarca y España. Ha publicado 3 libros de poesía Primera Persona: Ella, La Libertad: Ciudad de Paso y su libro más reciente Escribo desde Aquí el cual fue acreedor del décimo premio de poesía Emilio Prado del Centro Cultural Generación del 27 Málaga España. Su practia artística, al igual que sus actividades cotidianas transfronterizas, pretenden disipar las fronteras entre academia, literatura, arte y activismo.
Omar Pimienta, Tijuana México 1978. His artistic practice examines questions of identity, migration, citizenship, emergency poetics, landscape and memory. He is currently a Ph.D candidate in Literature at the University of California, San Diego and he received his MFA in Visual Arts from the same institution. His work has been presented in galleries, museums and cultural institutions fromo The United States, México, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Germany, Denmark, and Spain. He has published three books of poetry, the most recent one, Escribo desde Aquí was awarded the Emilio Prado 10th International Publication prize from the Centro Cultural Generación del 27 Malaga. His artistic practice, alongside his daily trans-border routine, seeks to dissipate the borders between academics, literature, art and activism.
John Pluecker is a writer, interpreter, translator and co-founder of the language justice and literary experimentation collaborative Antena. He has translated numerous books from the Spanish, including Antígona González (Les Figues Press, Forthcoming) and Tijuana Dreaming: Life and Art at the Global Border (Duke University Press, 2012). His most recent chapbook is An Accompanying Text (She Works Flexible, 2015). His book of poetry and image, Ford Over, was released in 2016 from Noemi Press.
“Goliat” originally appeared in Waxwing Magazine, Issue 1, Fall 2013.