Tag Archives: translation

Neruda LXXXIV

Posted on April 18, 2021 by JMN

[LXXXIV]Una vez más, amor, la red del día extingueOne more time, love, the net of day extinguishestrabajos, ruedas, fuegos, estertores, adioses,labors, wheels, fires, death rattles, goodbyes,y a la noche entregamos el trigo vacilanteand we deliver to the night the unsteady … Continue reading →

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‘Business in Great Waters’

Posted on April 17, 2021 by JMN

I jotted on the fly several snatches of phraseology that resonated with me today as I watched Prince Philip’s live-streamed funeral service on the BBC. May what power that is deal graciously with those who mourn, and those who go … Continue reading →

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‘Inter faeces et urinam nascimur’

Posted on April 13, 2021 by JMN

“Between feces and urine we are born,” said Augustine in the 4th century. The bishop of Hippo’s take on parturition was that our mothers effectively defecate us from their feculent crannies. Doctrine on sex and love handed down by dour … Continue reading →

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‘Endecha Sin Música’

Posted on April 12, 2021 by JMN

Dirge Without Musicby Edna St. Vincent MillayText at http://www.poetryfoundation.orgSpanish paraphrase by JMN Endecha Sin Música I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.No me resigno a que se recluyan corazones tiernos en el … Continue reading →

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A Translation

Posted on April 3, 2021 by JMN

If I Should Come Upon Your House Lonely in the West Texas DesertBy Natalie Diaz. Selected by Reginald Dwayne Betts, NYTimes, 4-1-21. [Translator’s note: The title’s ‘West Texas Desert’ is resonant and necessary. For my Spanish interpretation, however, the fact … Continue reading →

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The ‘Open-(Ahem)’

Posted on March 31, 2021 by JMN

The polite, socially acceptable name by which it’s currently known is the medlar. But for the best part of 900 years, the fruit was called the “open-arse” – thought to be a reference to the appearance of its own large … Continue reading →

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Travesía (7)

Posted on March 30, 2021 by JMN

Versión castellana del poema “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” (1856) de Walt WhitmanEnglish text at http://www.poetryfoundation.orgSpanish Interpretation by JMN Parts 4 and 5 in their entirety follow. Cleave to awareness there are 9 parts. (4)These and all else were to me the … Continue reading →

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Neruda LXXXV

Posted on March 25, 2021 by JMN

[LXXXV]Del mar hacia las calles corre la vaga nieblaA seaward-springing hint of fog runs through the streetscomo el vapor de un buey enterrado en el frío,like steam from an ox interred in the cold,y largas lenguas de agua se acumulan … Continue reading →

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Travesía (6)

Posted on March 22, 2021 by JMN

Versión castellana del poema “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” (1856) de Walt WhitmanEnglish text at http://www.poetryfoundation.orgSpanish Interpretation by JMN [Translator’s note: I’m uncomfortably aware that I border on paraphrase and not translation in the last line particularly. The line casts flicker down … Continue reading →

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Neruda LXXXVI

Posted on March 18, 2021 by JMN

[LXXXVI]Oh Cruz del Sur, oh trébol de fósforo fragante,O Southern Cross, O cloverleaf of fragrant phosphorous,con cuatro besos hoy penetró tu hermosuratoday your beauty pierced with four kissesy atravesó la sombra y mi sombrero:and crossed over the shadow and my … Continue reading →

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