The New Skin
- The New Skin
Lord, let me understand this barter of essences. You've taken my bohemian soul and left me another, strange, cold as a distant star. I look within and don't recognize myself. Have I spent the magic dust of my previous life? Where are my fits, my excesses, Lord?
Have I spent all my life's fire?
I'm a guest in a foreign hotel, in an unfamiliar city. I cross a room devoid of endearing objects, with swamp green walls and windows that face homes of incognito beings.
I'm a guest with a gray raincoat and hat, tall and gaunt, serious, with cheeks sunken, shadowed.
And I pace this rented room, my momentary possession, not knowing what to do.
Where have you taken my bohemian soul, with hands full of flowers, a colorful hat, ample laughter, Lord?
It was risky to live with, but without it—how empty the world, how hostile this landscape surrounding me!
My soul right now is like a starfish, mummified. [End Page 514]
matilde casazola, born in the city of Sucre, is a Bolivian poet, novelist, and songwriter. At the center of her work is a great reverence for the Bolivian landscape and its people. Throughout her oeuvre, Casazola grapples with themes like illness, exile, and the struggle of the laboring class—all woven into a universe of dreamlike magic. Casazola's many titles include Bodies, The Flesh of Dreams, and The Underground Cathedrals.
caelan tree is a poet, translator, and veterinary nurse living in the Pioneer Valley, Massachusetts. She holds an MFA in Poetry and Poetry in Translation from Drew University and is the author of the chapbook Quiet in the Body. Her work has appeared in The Healing Muse, Animal Literary Magazine, and others.
