Poemas de Robert Girón

Lejos de todos

Lejos de todos

*esclavado en mi mente

sin cualquier alma

veo pasar los hombres

de fuego y hierro

…la guerra conozco como mi dama

¡jamás pensé!

¿porqué no decirlo…?

el sol perdió su fuego

y siento mis muslos

temblar
de frío

Copyright © 1981 by Robert L. Girón.

*(combinación de esclavo y clavado)

-Texas 1940s-

Provecho,
tomando Corona,
descanso la charla patrona

-Mitchell, Nebraska 1950s-

Amistad,
compadres y gringos,
todos tan iguales, amigos

Copyright © 1999 by Robert L. Girón.

Homenaje

Solos, en la casa de piedra
buscamos los tribus de ayer,

el alivio nos rodea,
las paredes se quejan,
el suelo se abre
y nos quedamos pensando:

¿cuándo será el tiempo de la raza?

Copyright © 2004 by Robert L. Girón.

Del libro Canciones para una sola cuerda
de Jesús Gardea
From the book Songs for a Single String
de Jesús Gardea

Tracucción al inglés de Robert L. Girón

English translation by Robert L. Girón

One of three finalists in the
2003 Violet Crown Book Award
for Literary Prose & Poetry


-21-

I perched
to look at you
the way the sun
perches upon
a house

you had
two doves
in the shade

a gillyflower
in the white
frontiers
of your
navel

May water
running
along the
mint
of your legs

I perched to see you

and two doves
flew
towards
me.

English translation

Copyright © 2002 by Robert L. Giron.


-26-

One day
I'm going to find you

for ever

in the water
I drink

along
the path
of high
grass

of clear
suns

you signing

me looking at you like I'm accustomed

as if at a
flower

as if
at a window
of light
open
in my
hands.

English translation
Copyright © 2002 by Robert L. Giron.

Biography

Robert L. Giron is the grandson of the late Casimiro E. (ès Monge) Giron, musician, composer, and conductor of his orchestra, and the great grandson of a pioneer of San Angelo, Texas, who ran his own stagecoach service between El Paso (formerly El Paso del Norte), San Angelo, and San Antonio before railroads arrived in West Texas. His family roots go back four centuries
in what is now the USA. In addition to having Comanche and Mexican roots on the maternal side of his family, he has paternal lineage to the houses of Spain (Osuna / Sevilla) and France (Lorraine).

Giron holds a B.A. degree from the University of Texas at El Paso where he studied linguistics and foreign languages; he later did post graduate work in creative writing with José Antonio Villarreal, Jon Manchip White, and the late Raymond Carver.

He also holds a master's from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and later studied comparative literature at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor under a Mellon Fellowship and has spent two summers at Selwyn College studying literature at the University of Cambridge International Summer Programme in Cambridge, England.

Giron, a native of Nebraska, thinks of himself as a transplanted Texan who currently lives in Arlington, Virginia. He directs the Honors Programs and teaches English, creative writing, and film and literature at Montgomery College in Takoma Park, Maryland. Trilingual, he writes in English, Spanish, and French.

His poetry and fiction have appeared in The Texas Anthology, The World Haiku Review, Puerto del Sol, The Great Lawn, Art Forum, Austin Writer, Chrysalis, Amphora Review, Goodbye Dove, Slouching Towards Consensus, Arlington Artsletter among other publications.

Awards

"The Pearl Glaze" was a finalist in the 2004 Moving Words Poetry Competition, Arlington, Virginia.
"Fortune Was My Name But Faith Sustained Me," an essay, was a finalist in the 2003 Writers' Contest, Living in Faith, Obadiah Press.

His translation of Jesús Gardea's posthumous collection of poetry entitled Cancionces para una sola
cuerda / Songs for a Single String was one of three finalists in the 2003 Violet Crown Book Award for Literary Prose & Poetry, sponsored by Barnes and Noble and the Texas Writers' League.

"The First Thanksgiving" [1598] in the collection Metamorphosis of the Serpent God was named Best of the Entries in the Austin Writers' League Radio Collective Contest 2000 and was aired on A Gift of Poets program on KOOP Austin, 91.7 FM and KRTU San Antonio, 91.7 FM,
along with another of his poems entitled "The Souls of Countless Tribes."

"The Olive Branch" in the collection Metamorphosis of the Serpent God was named a finalist in the 2001 Moving Words Poetry Competition in Arlington, Virginia.

Nominations:

For Songs for the Spirit, Independent Publisher Awards-2001, Inspirational/Spiritual Category;

ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Awards-2001 for Spirituality/Inspirational;

for Metamorphosis of the Serpent God Crown Award Austin Writers' League Independent Publisher Book Award 2000.


Activities:

Giron participates in the "Pick-a-Poet Program" of the Arlington County Humanities Project and has worked with over 500 students, giving numerous workshops on writing poetry in English and Spanish in the public schools.

Giron has been a fellow under the Paul Peck Humanities Institute in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., to work on the topic of shamanism during the African Diaspora Seminars, and has also been a recipient of a grant from the Endowment for the Humanities.

Giron coordinates the Honors Program at Montgomery College-Takoma Park, is the director of the Takoma Park Scholars Program, and in 1987 he founded the Ventura Valdez Poetry Contest at Montgomery College for students who write in English and Spanish.
Giron is the founder of Gival Press.

Giron has read his work in the USA, Mexico, Belgium, Spain, England, and France.

Visit: http://www.robertgiron.com