Miguel Avero and Leonardo de León, translated by Jona Colson
El recorrido/The pathway
El recorrido
que trazan las hormigas
caligrafía.
The pathway
that the ants have drawn
calligraphy.
Soñó el poeta/The poet dreamed
Soñó el poeta
el verso nunca escrito
guardó el secreto.
The poet dreamed
of the verse never written
it kept the secret.
El perro lame/The dog licks
El perro lame
repasa sus heridas
trazos brutales.
The dog licks
revisits its wounds
brutal strokes.
Nadie sabía/Nobody knew
Nadie sabía
el nombre de la rosa
salvo la rosa.
Nobody knew
the name of the rose
except the rose.
Bio
Miguel Avero is a narrator, essayist, teacher and researcher who lives in Montevideo, Uruguay. He directs the “Puerta Chimera” writing workshop, and he has been included in various national and international anthologies, specifically, América Invertida: An Anthology of Emerging Uruguayan Poets (University of New Mexico Press, 2016), edited by Jesse Lee Kercheval. Professor Kercheval matched me with Miguel for the anthology, and we have been working together ever since. He has published the collection of poems Arca de Aserrín (Ediciones en blanco, 2011), and the novella, Micaela Moon (Travesía Ediciones, 2014; reissued in 2015), and another poetry collection, La Pieza (Walkie Talkie Editions, 2018). Avero is considered one of Uruguay’s most prolific contemporary writers.
Leonardo de León is a professor of literature and member of the National Academy of Letters. He has widely published fiction and poetry. He received the Gran Premio Narradores de la Banda Oriental, the Neruda Prize for Young Poets, the Writer's House Prize, and the National Literature Prize. In 2025, he received the Justino Zavala Muniz grant to encourage artistic creation. He lives in Minas, Uruguay.
Jona Colson is Queer poet, educator, and translator. His poetry collection, Said Through Glass, won the Jean Feldman Poetry Prize from the Washington Writers’ Publishing House. He is also the translator of Aguas/Waters by Miguel Avero and the co-editor of America’s Future: poetry and prose in response to today (2025). His poems, translations, and interviews have appeared in Ploughshares, The Southern Review, LitHub, and elsewhere. www.jonacolson.com
@jonacolson
@miguelavero