Jeannette L. Clariond is an award-winning Mexican poet, essayist, and translator born

on August 8, 1949, in Chihuahua, Mexico. Raised in a Lebanese family that emigrated to

Mexico, she is known for her work exploring the US-Mexico border and interiority. She

is the author of many collections, most recently Even Time Bleeds (Princeton University

Press, 2026), translated by Forrest Gander.

She is the recipient of the Ramón López Velarde National Poetry Prize (1992), National

Prize of Poetry Efraín Huerta (1996), and the Juan de Mairena Prize (2014), winner of

the 2022 Pilar Fernández Labrador Award. A member of the North American Academy

of the Spanish Language, she lives in Monterrey, México.

Lightness

Love is a silent door,

tree / storm / coffin

beyond time.

We invent the idea of home:

the glowing lamp,

the book on the nightstand.

Every image is real

but for that jasmine

in flames.

Translated by Forrest Gander

Levedad

El amor es una puerta callada,

árbol / tormenta / féretro

fuera del tiempo.

Creamos la idea de un hogar:

la encendida lumbrera,

el libro en el buró.

Toda imagen es real

salvo el jazmín

en llamas.