Landscapes with Donkey

In Landscapes with Donkey, Spanish poet José Manuel Marrero Henríquez follows a gentle, gray donkey on his travels through the dusty hillsides of the Canary Islands, an archipelago located off the western coast of Africa. Wise and thoughtful, the ruminant quadruped, a “doctor of the earth,” studies the limits of ground and sky with the unique perspicuity of a donkey’s gaze. Eventually taking us on a journey far beyond the pasture’s horizon, the donkey, humblest of poets, unravels the mysteries of this transcendentally beautiful and profoundly life-giving planet we call home. Winner of the 2016 ASLE Translation Grant to support the cross-cultural sharing of ecoliterature, translator Ellen Skowronski brings Marrero Henríquez’s poetry and vision to an English-speaking audience. 

In Peisaje cu magar, poetul spaniol José Manuel Marrero Henríquez urmareste un magar bland si gri in calatoriile sale pe dealurile prafuite ale Insulelor Canare, un arhipelag situat in largul coastei de vest a Africii. Intelept si ingandurat, rumegatoarea patruped, un „doctor al pamantului”, studiaza limitele solului si ale cerului cu vizibilitatea unica a privirii unui magar.