Friday, December 05, 2008

some snails...

snail head

1.
they have brought me a snail.

inside it sings
a map-green ocean.
my heart
swells with water,
with small fish
of brown and silver.

they have brought me a snail.

2.
me han traido una caracola

dentro le canta
un mar de mapa.
mi corazon
se llena de agua
con pececillos
de sombra y plata.

me han traido un caracola.

3.
my hand traces an artichoke

dented like a song
a mark on a map.
my heart
yearning for water
peculiar colors
of sadness and purples.

my hand traces an artichoke.

1. federico garcia lorca, snail, translated by william jay smith.
2. federico garcia lorca, snail, original language as written
3. federico garcia lorca, snail, translated intuitively...

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5 Comments:

Blogger thecoloroflight said...

Really enjoyed that. Thanks

9:14 AM  
Blogger ArtSparker said...

My friend Laynie Browne (amazing poet) loves to translate poetry this way...I'm going to send her an email about this post.

3:26 PM  
Blogger sroden said...

oh thanks. yeah, it's how i started writing, translating an entire book by par lagerkvist that isn't in english. took me years, still always going back and tickling the text a bit. some images of it here; but i've been writing that way now for awhile. helps to begin with something and then build from its parts. jackson mac low did some beautiful things that way... thanks as always for the kind words.

3:31 PM  
Blogger ArtSparker said...

Albert Pinkham Ryder advised approaching making art as if one were a caterpillar at the end of a blade of grass feeling in the air.

9:15 AM  
Blogger C. L. DeMedeiros said...

Fascinating...

Image & Poesia

2:57 PM  

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