Fatal

When you die of sorrow
it's as if you've broken
all the bones in your body,
bruised yourself all over,
cracked your skull.
That's sorrow.

— Roberto Bolano, "2666"

Dark

The bandstand
was wrought iron,
and in it,
though it was
late at night,
insomniac
children
played.

— Roberto Bolano, "2666"
(translated by Natasha Wimmer)

Bruised

Red-tailed hawks
soared above
in the sky,
which was
purple like
the skin
of an Indian
woman beaten
to death.

— Roberto Bolano, "2666"
(Translated by Natasha Wimmer)

Scent

... they dug up the barbecue,
and a smell of meat and hot earth
spread over the patio
in a thin curtain of smoke
that enveloped them all
like the fog that drifts
before a murder ...

— Roberto Bolano, "2666"
(translated by Natasha Wimmer)

French blue

The sky in Paris
(shades of
Baudelaire,
Verlaine,
Banville)

— Roberto Bolano, "2666"
(Translated by Natasha Wimmer)