Solo dijimos: a caballo regalado no se le mira los dientes. Y devoramos las piedras que colocaron sobre la mesa.
We just said: Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. And we wolfed down the rocks they put on the table.
translated from Spanish by Julia VelascoThese poems are part of the collection Pavo muerto para el amor, by Ecuadorian poet Edwin Madrid. The collection was published in Spanish in Argentina by Alción Editora. Madrid has published several other collections of poetry, including La búsqueda incesante (Mexico, 2006), Latitud cero° (Colombia, 2005) and Mordiendo el frío (Colección Visor de Poesía, Spain, 2004). He has also received a number of awards, such as the Casa de América de Poesía Americana award, (Spain, 2004) and the national poetry award Escritores Ecuatorianos de los 90 (Quito, 1992).
Julia Velasco was born in Spain where she graduated with a degree in Translation and Interpreting, and is currently an MFA candidate at the University of South Carolina. She has translated the works of Spanish-speaking poets such as Armando Romero, Eduardo Espina, and Mario Bojorquez. Her own fiction has appeared in The Delmarva Review.