When Azorean poetry speaks again, in another tongue.

(route)

After all, where once no figures stood—
a labyrinth of paint unfolds,
the spreading of the painting,
its pulse beneath the afternoon’s long breath.

A full conversation with the statue
arrives unannounced,
to inhabit the chambers of my sleep.
In your exact hands you cradle
dew and moonlight together,
you beget, in the depth of night,
the child who will never grow.

I delay my own birth—
beneath the long wigs of disguise,
in the mestizo refuge
of arched and waiting arms.

Desire rises, virulent and pure,
connoisseur of hidden things,
awakened in a soft dawn—
the morning begins by dazzling us.

Judite Jorge was born in Pontas Negras, Pico, Açores.  She has published poetry and fiction. Her poems are also included in anthologies and literary supplements in the Azores.  She was a broadcast journalist for the Azorean regional radio station RDP-A, where she promoted cultural programming.  She has published poetry and prose.
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