Featured poet: Diego Rosake

Diego Rosake (1979) lives in Bahía Blanca, Argentina. He studied philosophy, and is now the editor of HD ediciones and a bookseller. He has written many articles and reviews, as well as several books, but the only one he recognizes as his own is Luna en bicicleta [Bicycling on the moon] (2015).

Everything kills a moth

I

The nights of insomnia
the nights of sleep
the nightmares
the applause
—mostly out of obligation—
the lettuce thrown in spite
the excessive onanism
the perpetual chastity
the faked orgasms
the insults
the sneezes
the ass-face of a neighbor
my neighbor’s ass
the front page of a newspaper
the color of bricks
the Peronist march
the radical youth
the know-it-all writers
the straight-up know-it-alls
the Coca Cola
the Pepsi
and the Raid

everything
everything
absolutely everything
kills a moth

II

Wikipedia dixit:
“The word ‘moths’
in Spanish
refers primarily to a variety of butterflies,
small and nocturnal,
whose larvae consume
stored food
or domestic items, such as clothing and paper.
They belong to at least four families of the Lepidoptera order,
the Tineidae, the Pyralididae, the Gelechiidae and the Tortricidae…”

but how weak

III

Know, manufacturers
that Poett air freshener,
mornings in the country
and your best goodwill
are all useless to conceal the smell of morning shit
but one spritz of your foamy perfume is enough
to end any moth’s dreams of glory

IV

The lips of Monica Bellucci
kill the male moths
with passion
the females die of envy

V

Technique for evacuation of moth
and preservation of its life
as you prevent it from devouring your clothing:

step one:
locate the insect

step two:
delicately move your hand toward it
(if you’re right-handed use the right
if you’re a leftie, the left
if you’re ambidextrous whichever is free)

step three:
make an almost-closed circle with your fingers
and palm
similar to the one you make
when you hold an ice cream cone

step four:
delicately close your palmar cavity
trying not to put pressure
on the fragile body
of the captured lepidoptera

step five:
do not give way to the tickling
that its wings will make on your palm
it’s only a ruse to escape

don’t be deluded either by the brilliant powder
you will find between your fingers
even if it’s similar to what Peter Pan used
it’s already been confirmed
that it won’t make you fly

step six:
stick your limb out the window
and open your hand so the insect
recovers its freedom

now observe:
if your rope is full of holes
you have arrived very very late
but think of all the good that you’ve done
for that poor little creature

VI

I would never make such an effort
for a fly

VII

Operations described above
performed with success = 0

VIII

Or, on the destiny of the moths’ victory over the last of the human beings and their reserves of wool and polyester.

Part I

Legend has it
that after seeing 300 by Frank Miller
the great moth
decided to vanquish its fragile condition
and fly toward the ruins of Sparta
in search of warrior roots

Part II

This is Sparta
yelled Leonidas in the film with his jaw thrust forward
later he screwed his wife
everything happened in slow motion

I am moth
you yelled
practicing before a mirror
then slept curled in a ball
on the empty mattress
and the night became endless

Part III

The journey was going to take him just two months
the internet claims that this type of moth only survives to one month
ergo
already it’s been more than four years
his comrades pray for the return
of the one who will release them from their facility for death

while
they train in guerrilla war
and come for our wardrobes.

— translated by Jessica Sequeira