the minnesota review n.s. 52-54 (2001)

Juan José Daneri

Ocelot

The texture of the paper
Restores the description
Solid
Illiterate
Of the codex

I smell the outline
Of your ink
Enclosed for so many years
In the impression
Of your face

--tr. ESB

Juan José Daneri was recipient of the 1992 Pablo Neruda Foundation Fellowship. He is co-author of Retaguardia de la Vanguardia and Los Novios de Ariadna and teaches Colonial Latin American literature at Marquette University.