Baking Paper Poem

some clouds
have taken the shape of stairs.

no, it's not the spiralling tongue of corners.
it's more like a ladder,

the thing with steps between its two legs
that leaned on the wall my dad painted

with the flesh of his cheekbones raised
as if he was smiling

and his eyebrows condensed
as if he was angry.

///

POEMA EM PAPEL MANTEIGA

várias nuvens
transformaram-se em escada.

não, não em espiral de língua em zig zag.
antes como um simples escadote portátil,

a coisa com degraus entre as duas pernas
encostada à parede que o meu pai pintou

com as maçãs do rosto levantadas
como se estivesse sorrindo

e as sobrancelhas eriçadas
como se estivesse zangado.

by Evdokia CHARALAMPOUS (Cyprus-born poet), in "THE POETRY REVIEW", Volume 106:3, Autumn 2016

(Portuguese translated by Armando TABORDA, 2019)

(photo taken from Internet; edited by Armando TABORDA)