Variations of myself in two allotments

by Raúl Renán

translated by Fer de la Cruz

 

One only eye takes care of my surroundings,
with no fixed point, the landscape covering
my body —– can be heard.

By going around with words said for the grass
of birds, while the pinpointed structure of the poem
on the tip of my pencil… can be read.

By juggling every gesture on both hands
upon finding oneself among opposite maneuvers
of dialogic writing. Coming from each
side of the conversation, converted wide
and left and with its own
eloquent accents: as one that
tosses on the floor the other´s say,
as the other is brought by its pulse,
rightfully clockwise
sure of itself while growing on its distance
from the first. Both may be continuity:
adjoining, never! Disjoining, yes!
But less and less
never the
less.

 

Variaciones de mí en dos medidas

Un solo ojo cuida mi derredor,
sin lugar fijo el paisaje cubre
mi cuerpo —– se oye.

Ir diciendo palabras para el pasto
de los pájaros, y en la punta de mi lápiz
la estructura afilada del poema… se lee.

Andar a dos manos los gestos al encontrarse
en las maniobras opuestas de una
escritura dialógica. Vienen de ambos
lados los parlamentos parlados
a diestra y siniestra con sus propios
acentos elocuentes: uno que trae
tirando el decir contrario y otro
que viene del pulso a derechas
con certeza a modo de alejarse
del otro. Los dos pueden ser continuidad:
no contiguos, sí sintiguos
no obstante.

 

 

 

********************

Raúl Renán (Mérida, 1928) is one of Yucatán´s major living poets. He grew up in Mérida but moved to Mexico City fifty years ago, where he was an editor and a workshop maestro of generations. Most famous for his experimental works, Raúl Renán is author of more than 40 titles of poetry and fiction, such as Catulinarias y Sáficas (1981), De las queridas cosas (1982), La gramática fantástica (1983), Viajero en sí mismo (1991), and Los silencios de Homero (1998).

Fer de la Cruz is a Yucatecan poet born in 1971. He has received two national, two regional, and one state-wide poetry awards in Mexico and is a member of the founding faculty at the School of Creative Writing of the State Center of Fine Arts, in Mérida. He is also coordinator of the Historic Mérida branch of Centro de Idiomas del Sureste, where he was a teacher for 20 years. He holds an MA in Spanish from Ohio University and a BA in Philosophy. As an independent editor, writer, translator, and cultural promoter, he has participated in cultural festivals, conferences, and book fairs in Mexico, Cuba, France, and the United States. His poems appeared in the books “Redentora la voz” (Ayuntamiento de Mérida, 2010) and “Aliteletras. De la A a la que quieras” (Dante, 2011), as well as in the chapbooks “La cuenta regresiva. Radiografía urbana mesozoica” (El Drenaje, 2012) and “Seven Songs of Silent, Singing Fireflies” (JKPublishing, 2008): delacrux@hotmail.com.

painting by Sheila Lanham

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