The Caesarean of Three Continents by Corsino Fortes - Poems

The Caesarean of Three Continents

Before
    the coin of the body To the capital of the soul
Before the light
    in the sea of memory
And the rock/stone and wind in the erosion of the face
We were in the earth/land’s summer
    The seed without spring [the season]
We were the exclamation
    Of the ‘lon’ in ‘lonjura’ [the ‘di’ in ‘distance’]
Giving
    Legs to the hills [‘montes’] And arms to the mountains [‘montanhas’]
Giving face and meaning [or direction]
    To the dunes of the high sea
That breathe
    the thighs
    the breasts
    the sex of the Sahel [southern Sahara]

I remember you! in the Africa of your belly
Questioning/Interrogating yourself
    about the isthmus + the
    prow of our destiny
When poles and peninsulas of tidal waves
Would/Used to tear & tear [continuous past – so could be ‘were tearing and tearing’]
In the vortex/whirlwind of life! in the fracture of the earth/land
    The Caesarian of/from [the] three continents

We remained [or were left as – so ‘became’?] navels of rock/stone
        in a spin
Between the skin and the bone of the seasons
We remained [or were left as – so ‘became’] then island + island
        on/over the wind
    through/over the archipelago of evasion

*

So! [ie. Thus!] it was the pronouncement/proclamation
    Before & after the 1st day + the
Erosion of the chronicle/tale
    in the mouth of “Rotcha Scribida”**