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‘For Orlando,’ a poem by Carolina De Robertis

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Mourners congregate outside Barcelona’s city hall to honor the victims of the Orlando shooting.

Mourners congregate outside Barcelona’s city hall to honor the victims of the Orlando shooting.

Josep Lago / AFP / Getty Images

The novelist Carolina De Robertis, a writer of Uruguayan origins who lives in Oakland, submitted this poem, in Spanish and English, to commemorate the victims of the Orlando massacre.

Para Orlando

A veces el inglés

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se esfuma

a veces el inglés

no abarca

el alma

por ejemplo

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para decir mi dolor

por los muchachos en Orlando

para decir los nombres latinos entre ellos

para decir la hermosura

de sus ojos, bailes, deseos,

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la hermosura radiante sí de sus deseos,

para transmitir cuánto ya sabían del odio

y de cómo amar un cuerpo, un ser,

tengo que aullar en español —

pero ojo: el inglés musculoso

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también nos nutre

el inglés y el español

intercambian palabras

como ropa entre primas

o primos también;

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el español, jugando con el inglés,

explorando prendas y verdades

sacó del clóset

la palabra

Gay

y se la puso para siempre.

Hundreds of people gather in San Francisco’s Castro District for an Orlando vigil.

Hundreds of people gather in San Francisco’s Castro District for an Orlando vigil.

Gabrielle Lurie / Special to The Chronicle

For Orlando (translation)

Sometimes English

collapses

sometimes English

can’t contain

the soul

for example

to speak my pain

for the young folks in Orlando

to say the Latino names among them

to speak the beauty

of their eyes, dance, desires,

the radiant beauty yes of their desires,

to convey how much they already knew of hate

and of how to love a body, a being,

I have to howl in Spanish —

but careful: muscular English

nurtures us too

English and Spanish

exchange words

like clothes between cousins

of any gender;

Spanish, playing with English,

exploring garments and truths

took from the closet

the word

Gay

And put it on forever.

Carolina De Robertis of Oakland is the author of three novels, most recently “The Gods of Tango.” Email: books@sfchronicle.com

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