Trying my hand at translation

One of my favorite poets in any language is the German modernist Rainer Maria Rilke, who, incidentally, was raised as a girl (just FYI). We spent a lot of time in a class I took on German literature a couple of semesters ago on Rilke's Sonnets to Orpheus, and I especially enjoyed this one. The way it plays with the material and immaterial qualities of language and experience raise a number of philosophical and critical questions that are, for me at least, incredibly interesting. The only trouble is, I couldn't find an English translation that I could access. I've provided my own (incredibly unpoetic) translation below, but I'd recommend just trying to read aloud the original German, even if you don't understand any of it. After all, that's part of the point.

Herausgegaben von Die Sonette an Orpheus

Voller Apfel, Birne und Banane
Stachelbeere ... Alles dieses spricht
Tod und Leben in den Mund ... Ich ahne ...
Lest es einem Kind vom Angesicht,

wenn es sie erschmeckt. Dies kommt von weit.
Wird euch langsam namenlos im Munde?
Wo sonst Worte waren fließen Funde,
aus dem Fruchtfleisch überrascht befreit.

Wagt zu sagen, was ihr Apfel nennt.
Diese Süße, die sich erst verdictet,
um, im Schmecken leise aufgerichtet,

klar zu werden, wach und transparent,
doppeldeutig, sonnig, erdig, hiesig--:
O Erfahrung, Fühlung, Freude--riesig!

From The Sonnets to Orpheus

Full of apples, pears, and bananas,
Gooseberries ... All of these speak
Death and life in the mouth ... I apprehend ...
Read it in the face of a child

When it tastes them. This comes from afar.
Do they become slowly nameless in your mouths?
Where once words were, flow in findings,
Out of the fruit-flesh, astonishingly freed.

Dare to say what your apple names.
This sweetness that first thickens
So as to quietly stand up in tastes,

To become clear, awake and transparent,
Double-meaning, sunny, earthy, local--:
O Discovery, Feeling, Joy--enormous!

1923

Marriage poetry

For my upcoming wedding, we're going to have some family members read a couple of poems. The standard choice for marriage poetry seems to be the Shakespeare sonnet "Let me not to the marriage of true minds." Not a bad poem, but my fiance and I wanted to avoid the obvious choice. As the English major in our relationship, I took on the task of finding a suitable alternative. Unfortunately, good love poetry is actually hard to find, especially since I have a taste for the sardonic or bitter. My favorite Shakespearean sonnet, for example, is all about how love is built on nothing but lies. Eventually, though, I came upon a poem by Edmund Spenser, who wrote roughly a generation before Shakespeare. For fun, I'll give it in the original Early Modern English spelling (u and v are interchangeable).

Sonnet 65 from Amoretti

The doubt which ye misdeem, fayre loue, is vaine
That fondly feare to loose your liberty,
when loosing one, two liberties ye gayne,
and make him bond that bondage earst dyd fly.
Sweet be the bands, the which true loue doth tye,
without constraynt or dread of any ill:
the gentle birde feeles no captiuity
within her cage, but singes and feeds her fill.
There pride dare not approch, nor discord spill
the league twixt them, that loyal loue hath bound:
but simple truth and mutuall good will,
seekes with sweet peace to salue each others woud
There fayth doth fearlesse dwell in brasen towre,
and spotlesse pleasure builds her sacred bowre.

1595

Apologies, and a poem

So, it's been about three weeks without posts. Terribly sorry, but two major term papers, finals, and moving do that. The good news, though, is that I've done well in all my classes and my new apartment is looking great after a long day and a half of scrubbing and painting. Things, I must admit, will be again fairly scattered here, as starting next Tuesday I'll be on the road doing far more important things. Still, I'll get in an entry when I can. Today, here's a piece by Sherman Alexie, a Native American writer (of mixed tribal ancestry) whom I only knew through his short fiction until recently. His story "This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona" is a personal favorite of mine, and forms a part of the basis for the film Smoke Signals (which I've only seen part of). I still prefer the fiction to his poetry, but this particular piece I thought worth sharing.

"Crow Testament"

1.
Cain lifts Crow, that heavy black bird
and strikes down Abel.

Damn, says Crow, I guess
this is just the beginning.

2.
The white man, disguised
as a falcon, swoops in
and yet again steals a salmon
from Crow's talons.

Damn, says Crow, if I could swim
I would have fled this country years ago.

3.
The Crow God as depicted
in all of the reliable Crow bibles
looks exactly like a crow.

Damn, says Crow, this makes it
so much easier to worship myself.

4.
Among the ashes of Jericho,
Crow sacrifices his firstborn son.

Damn, says Crow, a million nests
are soaked with blood.

5.
When Crows fight Crows
the sky fills with beaks and talons.

Damn, says Crow, it's raining feathers.

6.
Crow flies around the reservation
and collects empty beer bottles
but they are so heavy
he can carry only one at a time.

So, one by one, he returns them
but gets only five cents a bottle.

Damn, says Crow, redemption
is not easy.

7.
Crow rides a pale horse
into a crowded powwow
but none of the Indians panic.

Damn, says Crow, I guess
they already live near the end of the world.

2000