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.