Hélène Cardona
Hélène Cardona is a poet, actor, translator, and linguist, the author of Life in Suspension called “a vivid self-portrait as scholar, seer and muse” by John Ashbery, and Dreaming My Animal Selves, described as “liminal, mystical and other-worldly” by David Mason. She has authored 5 translations, including The Abduction by Maram Al-Masri, winner of an Albertine and FACE Foundation Prize.
The recipient of over 20 awards & honors, including the Independent Press Award and a Hemingway Grant, she holds an MA in American Literature from the Sorbonne, received fellowships from the Goethe Institute and International University of Andalucía, worked as an interpreter for the Canadian Embassy, and taught at Hamilton College and Loyola Marymount University. Her own work has been translated into 19 languages.
Hélène Cardona is a poet, actor, translator, and linguist, the author of Life in Suspension called “a vivid self-portrait as scholar, seer and muse” by John Ashbery, and Dreaming My Animal Selves, described as “liminal, mystical and other-worldly” by David Mason. She has authored 5 translations, including The Abduction by Maram Al-Masri, winner of an Albertine and FACE Foundation Prize.
The recipient of over 20 awards & honors, including the Independent Press Award and a Hemingway Grant, she holds an MA in American Literature from the Sorbonne, received fellowships from the Goethe Institute and International University of Andalucía, worked as an interpreter for the Canadian Embassy, and taught at Hamilton College and Loyola Marymount University. Her own work has been translated into 19 languages.
A House Like a Ship
By Hélène Cardona
I live in a house like a ship
at times on land, at times on ocean.
I will myself into existence
surrender, invite grace in.
I heed the call of the siren.
On the phantom ship
I don’t know if I’m wave
or cloud, undine or seagull.
Lashed by winds, I cling tight to the mast.
Few return from the journey.
I now wear the memory of nothingness
a piece of white sail wrapped like second skin.
From Life in Suspension (Salmon Poetry)
By Hélène Cardona
I live in a house like a ship
at times on land, at times on ocean.
I will myself into existence
surrender, invite grace in.
I heed the call of the siren.
On the phantom ship
I don’t know if I’m wave
or cloud, undine or seagull.
Lashed by winds, I cling tight to the mast.
Few return from the journey.
I now wear the memory of nothingness
a piece of white sail wrapped like second skin.
From Life in Suspension (Salmon Poetry)
© 2023 Hélène Cardona
Hélène Cardona was a Featured Poet at the November 2023 Second Sunday Poetry Series
Hélène Cardona was a Featured Poet at the November 2023 Second Sunday Poetry Series