Senorita.

<TN>Lott, Olivia</TN>

 We've got too much
of that (endless) reserve
of what wasn't made to last.
Your shiniest tiny stone,
a Chinatown swindle.
Think about this,
girl.
in the prairies of Taobao
lust is that thing shooting up
the side of the name,
and everything that smells like
  Chanel 11.12
is air
and everything that reeks of Gucci
  and Prada on skin
is air
and the shred of silk on the edge is shine, as it
covers you up it undresses you
air.
And still,
I'm a shepherd of this acclaimed
   abundance:
your gesture
to take it all away,
but not
the tiny stone of polished metal,
shining on the side that's worth nothing
   but means something,
it's our endless reserve
of what isn't meant to last.

Translations from the Spanish

By Olivia Lott

Andrea Cote Botero (b. 1981, Colombia) is the prizewinning author of the poetry collections Puerto calcinado (2003) and La ruina que nombro (2014). She is also a translator of poetry from English into Spanish and is currently assistant professor of poetry in the bilingual MFA program at the University of Texas, El Paso.

Olivia Lott's translations of Colombian poetry have appeared most recently in Mantis, Rio Grande Review, Spoon River Poetry Review, Tupelo Quarterly, And Waxwing.