Gloria Fuertes
Gloria Fuertes (1917-1998)
I Think Table And I Say Chair
I think table and I say chair,
I buy bread and I lose it,
whatever I learn I forget,
and what this means is I love you.
The harrow says it all
and the huddled beggar,
the fish that flies through the living room,
the bull bellowing in his last corner.
Between Santander and Asturias
a river runs, deer pass,
a herd of saints passes,
a great load passes.
Between my blood and my tears
there is a tiny bridge,
and nothing crosses; what
this means is I love you.
- Translated by Philip Levine and Ada Long1
Gloria Fuertes was born in Madrid, Spain on July 28, 1917. Her first work was published in 1935. Gloria Fuertes wrote poems, stories and songs for children. Fuertes’ literary accomplishments garnered the opportunity for her to teach at Bucknell, Mary Baldwin and Bryn Mawr universities from 1961 to 1963 as a Fulbright scholar. Those accomplishments spanned beyond stories, songs and poems for children, including many adult pieces as well as theatrical and children’s television work. Fuertes died of cancer on November 27, 1998.
1Mulford, W. (Ed.). (1990) Love Poems by Women. New York: Fawcett Columbine.
Mini-bio information retrieved April 15, 2011 from the Gloria Fuertes Foundation web site: http://www.gloriafuertes.org/biografia.htm and from Wikipedia: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Fuertes
Photo retrieved April 15, 2011 from web site: http://literaturefromourchildhood.blogspot.com/2011/01/gloria-fuertes.html
