ISSUE THREE: December, 2019

METAMORPHOSIS

by DEISY TOUSSAINT (translated by TOSHIYA KAMEI)

The rays of the sun, like the perfect coif of golden hair, slithered through the window, showing weightless motes of dust that, moving with calmness, seemed to observe what was happening on the floor of that bedroom.

The man tried in vain to move. He felt as if he weighed a ton. The tremendous pressure barely allowed him to breathe. He tried to open his eyes without success. If it had been a nightmare, he reasoned, he wouldn’t become aware of his inactivity or his intention to move. He tried to scream, but nothing came out. Perhaps the inner struggle exhausted him and all the glimpses of that inert vigil vanished completely, and he ended up falling asleep again.

He awoke with the same shock. However, this time he managed to open his eyes and perceived that the rays of the sun, like the perfect coif of golden hair, slithered through the window, showing weightless motes of dust that, moving with calmness, seemed to observe what was happening on the floor of that bedroom. Then his body turned cold, shiny, and heavy metal, lying inert on the floor of the room.

Born in 1987 in Santo Domingo, DEISY TOUSSAINT is a Dominican journalist of Haitian descent. Her work has appeared in anthologies and journals such as Mujer en pocas palabras, El fondo del iceberg, and miNatura. She is co-author with Óscar Zazo of Operación Azabache: La invasión (2017).

TOSHIYA KAMEI holds an MFA in Literary Translation from the University of Arkansas. His translations of Latin American literature include books by Claudia Apablaza, Carlos Bortoni, and Selfa Chew.