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[Translation from Spanish by Jerome Rothenberg, first published here
& dedicated to Heriberto Yépez, who originally showed me the experimental,
almost Dadaist range of Alberti’s early poetry.]
1, 2, 3
& 4.
These
four footprints don’t match my shoes.
If these
four footprints don’t match my shoes,
whose
four footprints can these footprints be?
Can they
be from a shark?
from an
elephant babe? from a duck?
from a
flea? from a quail?
(Pee,
pee, pee.)
Georginaaaaaaaa!
Where
have you gone?
I don’t
hear you, Georgina !
What will
your papa’s moustachios think of me?
(Paapááááá.)
Georginaaaaaaaa!
Art thou
or aren’t thou?
Firtree,
where are you?
Alder,
where are you?
Pinetree,
where are you?
(Did Georgina pass by here?)
(Pee,
pee, pee, pee.)
She
passed by at 1:00 eating grasses.
Coocoo.
The crow caught
her eye with a mignonette blossom.
Cawcaw.
The screech
owl with a dead rat.
Pardon
me, boys, but I can’t keep from bawling.
(Wah,
wah, wah.)
Now
you’re missing only one horn
for a
doctor’s degree in a usefully surefire bike race
with a
mailman’s cap as a prize.
(Scree,
scree, scree, scree.)
Even the
crickets take pity on me
&
when I’m in pain the ticks will come with me.
Have a
heart for me in this tux
out here looking
for you bawling in between rain squawls
with a
derby too & so tender
to
display you from bush unto bush.
Georginaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
(Maaaaaaa.)
Are you a
sweet little girl or are you a genu-ine cow?
My heart
always told me that you were a genu-ine cow.
Your papa
that you were a sweet little girl.
My heart
that you were a genu-ine cow.
A sweet
little girl.
A genu-ine
cow.
A girl.
A cow.
A girl or a cow?
Or a girl and a cow?
I never knew nuttin.
Bye bye,Georgina .
(Biff bam!)
A cow.
A girl or a cow?
Or a girl and a cow?
I never knew nuttin.
Bye bye,
(Biff bam!)
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