Two Poems

Author: Jaime Saenz

Translators: Ted Dodson & Kit Schluter

Publisher: Action Books (2026)

This indispensable bilingual edition contains two important poems by Jaime Saenz, Bolivia’s lodestone, lodestar and poèt maudit: “The Cold,” in its complete, landmark translation by the poet Kit Schluter; and “Death at the Very Touch,” never before available in English and translated by the poet Ted Dodson. With Blakean intimacy, these two sequences trace a double path through life and death, a cosmic and compact universal guide.

About the Author: JAIME SAENZ (b. La Paz, 1921; d. La Paz, 1986) was the preeminent literary voice of twentieth-century Bolivia. An unashamed bisexual and poète maudit non-pareil, Saenz mapped the psychogeography of La Paz as a city animated with the spirits of the Andes and the Andean peoples, magic, and poetry. As maestro to a devoted cadre of young writers, Saenz precipitated a new generation of Bolivian literary production through his nocturnal gatherings, “The Krupp Workshops.” He remains one of South America’s most mystical, controversial, and enduring writers.

About the Translators: TED DODSON is the author of An Orange (Pioneer Works / Wonder, 2021). He is a contributing editor for BOMB, an editor-at-large for Futurepoem, and a former editor of The Poetry Project Newsletter. He lives in Brooklyn, NY. KIT SCHLUTER is author of the book of short stories and drawing, Cartoons (City Lights, 2024). Recent translations include books by bruno darío, Copi, Mario Levrero, Olivia Tapiero, and Enrique Vila-Matas. He lives in Mexico with his dog, Xochimilco Mero Centro.