CORTANDO ALGODÓN EN UN DOMINGO ROJINEGRO	CUTTING COTTON ON A RED-AND- BLACK SUNDAY
Christian Santos	trans. Dinah Livingstone
Domingo rojinegro las dos de la tarde, en el bus y el sol relampagueándome ............en las espaldas, maravillosa nuestra revolución ............que despierta conciencia, el domingo pasado llegué‚ al corte de algodón con marcados resabios de burguesa. - ¿Dónde el surco y cómo entrar al plantío? - ¡Apartá las ramas compañera ............y empezá a cortar! Blancas hermosísimas las motas de algodón, las dos de la tarde en el bus y el sol relampagueándome ............en las espaldas, el domingo pasado corté un saco, este domingo ............corté dos de blancas hermosísimas ............motas de algodón.	Red-and-black Sunday two in the afternoon, in the bus and the sun striking me like lightning ............on my back, our marvellous revolution ............that awakens consciousness, last Sunday I arrived to cut the cotton with distinctly bourgeois habits. 'Where is the field and how do I get in among the plants?' 'Push back the branches compañera ............and start cutting!' The cotton tufts are the most beautiful white, two in the afternoon in the bus with the sun striking me like lightning ............on my back last Sunday I cut one sack, this Sunday ............I cut two of the most beautiful white ............tufts of cotton.

Note: The poet's peasant instructor addresses her in the familiar form 'vos'.

Acknowledgment: These poems were originally published in "Mujer en Nicaragua"
by Editorial Nueva Nicaragua in association with AMNLAE (Luisa Amanda Espinosa Association of
Nicaraguan Women) (Managua 1984), then published in bilingual edition, translated by Dinah Livingstone,
by the Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign (London 1999).

Copyright © Christian Santos 1981 trans. copyright © Dinah Livingstone 1999

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