Portal

Stephanie Borges (Brazil)
translated by Laura Cesarco Eglin

Imagine being more
than your body
the reading
of fingerprints, irises, traces
textures, not the soul
but to be the body’s refusal
to inhabit its cells
each flow and not be
your name zip code address
stop worrying
about proving you exist
and invent lives
since they don’t even see you as
a person

Imagine being the snake
that when shedding its skin
grows wings
and it wasn’t God
who provide them
so there’s no interest in
reaching heaven, but in flying
low, close to the sea
biting your own tail
being invisible
to radar, barely leaving
traces of feathers and skin
without worrying about
returning to dust.

Imagine time’s spiral
that the past is now
and the worst that can happen
is nothing
and we’re already here
in this desert so
any leap is movement
grow roots, duck–dive a save
slide into a hole
dig a tunnel
for the way is through
and alive and no one knows
how to get there
only maybe being another
with each step
so do it.