I have translated, then, for perhaps the most selfish of motives: simple greed. There were poems I wanted to read, but they lived in another tongue.
Jane Hirshfield
translating for the most selfish of motives
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Author Archives: thisfrenzy
Poetry’s task
Poetry’s task is to increase the available stock of reality, R.P. Blackmur said. It does this by reflecting for us our many human faces, our animal faces, our face of insect wings, our face of ocean and cliff. The world is large and, like Caiban’s island, full of noises; a true poem reflects this, whether in the original or in translation. To try to encompass such knowledge, to be willing to fail, to prepare as fully as possible for the work of poetry, to make the attempt in the recognition that any understanding is one among many – this is all we can do, as translators or as readers.
Jane Hirshfield, from “The World is Large and Full of Noises”
and THIS is how poetry is done: “In the Reading Room” by David Ferry
In the Reading Room
David Ferry
Alone in the library room, even when others
Are there in the room, alone, except for themselves,
There is the illusion of peace; the air in the room
Is stilled; there are reading lights on the tables,
Looking as if they’re reading, looking as if
They’re studying the text, and understanding,
Shedding light on what the words are saying;
But under their steady imbecile gaze the page
Is blank, patiently waiting not to be blank.
The page is blank until the mind that reads
Crosses the black river, seeking the Queen
Of the Underworld, Persephone, where she sits
By the side of the one who brought her there from Enna,
Hades, the mute, the deaf, king of the dead letter;
She is clothed in the beautiful garment of our thousand
Misunderstandings of the sacred text.
from Bewilderment: New Poems and Translations, University of Chicago Press
That this should finally happen in my life time
Count My Heart
Kathleen Hannan
Mandela on the day he was released
That this should finally happen in my lifetime
I am filled with joy like a dreaming child
We only know what has gone before
Who can say what is coming now?
But this has finally happened in our lifetimes
We are filled with joy like the mountain side
And so we stand in line, a thousand at a time,
to be counted.
Count my heart which is beating
Count my eyes which are open
Count my children, my sisters, my brothers
Whose hearts were once beating
Their voices once sang with us
Their spirits will always sing:
Freedom is coming
Freedom is coming
Freedom is coming, we paid with our lives
because no one gives freedom away
Freedom is coming, we’re coming to take it
cause no one gives freedom away.
Thanks, Kathleen, for this song, whose lyrics came in part from an NPR interview with a South African woman in an endless line to vote. This song is vital to the soundtrack of my life. You can buy the CD “Count My Heart” at CDBaby
poetry has never fully disengaged itself from its associations with shamanism
… poetry has never fully disengaged itself from its associations with shamanism; the poet, like the shaman, has mastered certain techniques – rhythmic, performative, imagistic, metaphoric – that summon the unconscious part of the mind, so that, in this dreamlike state between waking and sleeping, we may discover more about our thoughts and feelings than we would otherwise be able to do.
Alfred Corn “The Poem’s Heartbeat”
some trace, however faint, of this initial sanctity of the Word
Even the physical embodiment of a sacred text is numinous: it is wrapped in leather or silk, stored in a cupboard used for no other purpose, copied over only by special scribes. It may be raised in both hands as an offering before being opened; it may itself be offered fragrant incense and sweet milk. All written work retains some trace, however faint, of this initial sanctity of the Word: the inhabiting Logos and the breath of inspiration are the same, each bringing new life into the empty places of earth. It is no wonder, then that many different cultural traditions share an ancient prohibition against translation. As George Steiner has pointed out in After Babel, if a sacred text has been given to us directly by its divine source, surely it must remain exactly as it first appeared, each word preserved intact for the meaning it may hold. Whether in a sacred text or a contemporary poem, any alteration risks unwittingly discarding some mystery not yet penetrated.
Jane Hirshfield, “The World Is Large and Full of Noises: Thoughts on Translation”
What we regard must seduce us, and we it, if we are to continue looking
from “The World is Large and Full of Noises: Thoughts on Translation” by Jane Hirshfield
Knowledge is erotic. We see this not only in the Bible’s dual use of the term “to know,” but also, as classicist Anne Carson has pointed out, in the Homeric verb mnaomai, which means both “to hold in attention” and “to woo.” What we regard must seduce us, and we it, if we are to continue looking. A great poem creates in its readers the desire to know it more thoroughly, to live with it in intimacy, to join its speaking to their own as fully as possible. We memorize it, recite it over and over, reawaken it with tongue and mind and heart. Many translators describe their first encounter with their chosen authors as a helpless falling in love: a glimpse of a few translated fragments can lead to years of language study in order to hear directly the work’s own voice. And in matters of art, it seems, Eros is generous rather than possessive: the translator wants to reciprocate this gift received, to pass the new love on to others—and thus the work of translation begins.
what delicate clockwork
Translation is one way of learning what delicate clockwork causes a poem to keep accurate faith with music, meaning, and time.
from “The World is Large and Full of Noise: Thoughts on Translation” by Jane Hirshfield
Apiary 7 out soon, with 3 of my Shez translations!
Apiary 7 is coming out soon, with 3 of my translations of Shez’s poems. You can get your copy at Big Blue Marble, and many other locations in Philadelphia. APIARY 7: The POWER Issue is unique: our first collaboration with another organization, Decarcerate PA, to feature the work of a specific community (incarcerated authors), and our first themed issue, too.
And if you like to party with poets – read on!
APIARY 7 launches December 7th at Underground Arts with our signature dance extravaganza + high-energy reading. Come celebrate with us and Decarcerate PA! and boogie with writers and readers from all over the city.
The literary/dance extravaganza takes place Saturday, December 7th at Underground Arts, 1200 Callowhill Street. We promise music, dancing, refreshments, face-painting, APIARY-artwork-button-making, and most importantly,feeling Philly’s literary love.
At 7pm, local spoken word personalities Jacob Winterstein, Lyrispect, and Vision will be your guide through an all-ages evening of the freshest, most POWERful poetry and prose in Philadelphia. Power-Grooves will be provided by house band The Urban Shamans. After 10pm, everyone 21 and up can let loose as the renowned DJ Precolumbian spins until 2am.
To All of the Middle-class White Christian Women
To All of the Middle-class White Christian Women
Who Occasionally Consider Your Privilege:
Now you’re talkin about
owning your racism
and owning your classism
and owning your anti-Semitism
and owning your lesbophobia
and I’m supposed to be impressed
and the question I’ve got for you
is just how you plan
to pay for all this stuff you’re owning?
will you use your checking plus account
or cash in a CD
or get the money from daddy
or put it on your VISA?
and what happens
when all of this stuff you’re owning
gets a little old
and out of fashion?
what happens when you go to find something
new and improved
something that works easier
for you?
What then?
You just gonna pitch this stuff?
or you gonna try to sell it
back to us
packaged as our own desire
and try to make a profit for yourselves
in the process?
found in file, undated, probably from 1989 or 1990
This Frenzy 