The Origin of the Species

Summer, 2005 / No. 14

She knew early on

that invisible hands moved

her little people on the map

of larger and smaller countries

born of her sex forms of

a world without end

for girl and boy

growing limbs in her belly.

Taught to play with

her many selves she waited

for the red-hot fireman

who once fed the crescendo

of tenderness now tying

her to the flaming heart

of man eternal.

Beatriz Hausner lives in Little Italy. Born in Chile, she is the translator of twenty-five titles of poetry, fiction, and children’s literature, principally from Spanish to English. Last updated summer, 2005.