Gioconda Belli b.1948

The Nicaraguan poet was born to a well-to-do family and received primary and secondary Catholic education in Managua and Madrid, respectively, and English education in England. Of her more than six books of poetry and other literary work, she received multiple awards. The first one, the Mariano Fiallos Gil Award, was given to her first book of poetry, Sobre la Grama, in 1974. Her poem "Es larga la tarde'' comes from her second book of poetry, Línea de fuego, published in 1978 and winner of the Casa de las Americas Prize in Poetry.

"Critics of the period added Belli to a group of bourgeois female authors of about the same age who were all writing political poetry centered on exalted sensuality, disdain of society's treatment of women, celebration of the human body, and glorification of political revolution. They were known collectively as "the Six."
  • "Giaconda Belli." Encyclopedia of World Biography, vol. 24, Gale, 2005. Gale in Context: Global Issues

Es larga la tarde

Es larga la tarde
como el camino curvo hasta tu casa
por donde regreso arrastrando los pies
hasta mi cama sola
a dormir con tu olor engarzado en mi piel,
a dormir con tu sombra.

Es larga la tarde
y el amor redondo como el gatillo de una pistola
me rodea de frente, de lado, de perfil.
El sueño pesa sobre mis hombros
y me acerca de nuevo a vos
al huequito de tu brazo,
a tu respiración,
a una continuación infinita de la batalla
de sábanas y almohadas que empezamos
y que pone risa
y energía
a nuestro cansancio.