Laura Chalar
Retreat

I will concede
defeat, bow my head
to the enemy whose hand
haunts my throat. I will wane
into the deeps of this land
he may yet crush, carve up
in blood, but which is still
the purlieu of the mounting
eagle, a hugeness of light
and stone, the treetops’ vivid,
silvery colloquy.

Laura Chalar was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1976, and writes in Spanish and English. Her English-language work includes the poetry collections Midnight at the Law Firm, Our Lady of Obligations and Unlearning, the short story collection The Guardian Angel of Lawyers, and the children’s story The Paving Stone Man, as well as two Uruguayan poetry anthol- ogies. Her poems and translations are regularly featured in Literary journals.