by Salvador Villanueva

Translated from Spanish by Gustavo Rivera

Now you’ll want to laugh
to laugh jaw swinging
to laugh in full trance
the spectacle makes you want to laugh
to laugh with your liver in your hands.

Ahora son ganas de reír
de reír a mandíbula batiente
de reír a todo trance
el espectáculo da ganas de reír
de reír con el hígado en las manos.

Salvador Villanueva, born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, in 1947, studied philosophy at the University of Puerto Rico. He co-founded and co-directed the poetic journal Ventana and the literary journal En el País de los Tuertos; he was a co-founder and co-editor of Ediciones Ricardo Garúa. He has published the following collections of poetry: Poema en alta tensión (1974), Expulsado del paraíso (1981), Fin (1987), Libro de los delirios/La comatosa noche (1989), El corazón en huelga (2009), Jodido (2012).

Gustavo Rivera is a radical educator, writer, translator, literary agent, publisher, Boricua Bestial, and former Master Courier, with recent work published in Apogee, Misery Tourism, and others. He directs SVPRESS, teaches in CUNY colleges, and lives in Brooklyn, NY.