Extend the Hands Extend the hands over the other's body and from the hands light will beam light that cures all with the hands you will lodge in the flames of fire and the word. You have joined the two sides in marriage in front of the mirror. You have joined by chance conflicting sides: tenderness and devotion give each other desire, an unconscious palpitation arises between anger and blasphemy as they struggle to disappear. You fly high next to your lover after suffering hunger and thirst you try to attune to the divine curse you cover your face and return to celebrate the marriage in front of the mirror that stands there intact after your flight. Translated by Ivón Gordon Vailakis

Ivón Gordon Vailakis is an author of three books of poetry, most recently, Manzanilla del Insomnio (2002),  which received the prestigious award in poetry Jorge Carrera Andrade(2002,) also was the result of a Fulbright Award to research Converse Jews in Ecuador. Other titles incluye, Nuestrario (1987,) Colibríes en el exilio (1997),  finalist for the “Extraordinary Award Casa de las Américas (1997.) Her work has appeared in anthologies in the United States, and in poetry journals in Mexico, Ecuador, and the U.S. She has published in The Drunkenboat where she was a featured poet, Crab Orchard Review, Drexel On Line, Frigate Transverse.  Her interest in the diaspora and displacement is the main focus of her poetry as well as her academic research. She has many publications on academic journals and books on Latina Writers, Latin American Women Writers, Latin American Poets, and extensively on Gabriela Mistral. She has contributed in the scholarly work of Mistral with an innovative perspective. She is an active member of the Association of Ecuatorianistas and literary critic of Ecuadorian literature. She was born in Quito, Ecuador where the Andean wind and the paramo air became part of her. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine in Latin American Literature with emphasis on Contemporary Latin American Poetry and Latino/US literature. She is a Professor of Latin American literature at the University of Redlands.