John M. Bennett Engages
(Luna Bisonte Productions, 2018)
[First published as an Afterword to the book]
JIM LEFTWICH
RESPEAKS CÉSAR VALLEJO
Translation of poetry is
impossible, as poetry is an art embedded in a particular language and
culture. Trying to translate César
Vallejo is an especially useless endeavor, except perhaps for revealing to the
translator him/herself the endless mirrored swirling in the work of this
incredible Peruvian and universal poet.
[For people learning a language, a “literal” - as far as that is even
possible – translation can be of help.]
To read Vallejo you have to know Spanish, and Peruvian Spanish in
particular. But here is a work by Jim
Leftwich, a poet who sees/hears what's beneath language, and a poet who knows
practically no Spanish (he has made use of what “literal” translation of
Vallejo is available), a work which comes closer to the sense and voice of
Vallejo than any “translation” to English I have ever seen or glanced at. Ivan Argüelles agrees (“Leftwich has created
a Vallejo more Vallejo than Vallejo...”), and the preface by Retorico Unentesi
makes the same point, in a multi-layered language Vallejo himself might have
used: “Betray syntax heretical indiscipline is bravest discipline. Setting juxtaposition against another limit
is done as drift.” Leftwich's work here
is not a translation but something completely different, something far more
expansive and ambitious. There are, for
example, moments of homophonic transduction or translation that bloom into
precisely intense excursions through metaphor, surrealist associations,
language play, and, what is vitally important, an unrelenting consciousness of
the surrounding world, its politics and socio-economic distortions, and of the
intimate, personal and empathetic emotional mind in the center of and
surrounding it all. That is the heart of
Vallejo, and the heart of Leftwich writing in the immense ambiente and presence
of the Peruvian poet. As Unentesi says,
“A spoon surrounded by free soul borders on strength of the forehead weighing
sacred responsibilities in a void...affects our socio-political interventions.”
Some of Leftwich's poems
follow the structure or form of Vallejo's originals, as in Trilce II, with the
original having a strong presence in the choral lines, translated literally
(“nombre nombre nombre nombrE” to “name name name namE”) that resonate around
the radically changed but directly relevant stanzaic lines, such as “Bombarded
aberrational delicate cartel aching”, for “Bomba aburrida del cuartel
achica”. Or take Trilce XII, which has
moments of homophonic translation (“irate in a car” for “irá a caer”, or “shit
you find at yardsales” for “Chit! Ya
sale.”), and some translated words (cognates mostly, as in “Talons” for
“Talones”). The bulk of the poem,
however, is much more freewheeling. If,
as I tend to believe, all words in all languages are related, even if
distantly, as if each word were at the center of all language, perhaps even
including non-human languages, then what Leftwich has done is to delve into
that expanding sphere of associations and extract some of the other versions
that are vibrating behind this poem.
Thus he writes “Natural periscopes invested in an icy sun” for “Pero
naturalmente, vosotros sois hijos”. Or
“incertidute” for “incertidumbre”, which is a blend of homophonic translation
with finding/creating a neologism. The
striking thing is, that all these maneuvers result in a language that sounds
very much as if Vallejo himself were writing it. In other words, these poems of Leftwich could
be understood as the poems left quivering behind (or around or under or...) the poems Vallejo
wrote and put into print. It may well be
that this combination of strategies, involving both closeness and connective
distance from the originals, contributes to the sensation that these poems are
in the voice of Vallejo himself, in a different language and in a different
time and place.
The poetry of César
Vallejo is the longest-lasting and most constant voice resonating in my own
consciousness, his work always stirs me up, and always gets me directly
connected to the murky roots of my own
poetry; more than that, it puts me in touch with the roots of the swarming I
am. If every time one reads a poem it is
a different poem, something very much the case with Vallejo, Leftwich's
readings/creations are some of the most exciting and deeply grasped readings
that exist.
January 2018
*****
John M. Bennett has published over 400 books and chapbooks of poetry and other materials. He has published, exhibited and performed his word art worldwide in thousands of publications and venues. He was editor and publisher of LOST AND FOUND TIMES (1975-2005), and is Founding Curator of the Avant Writing Collection at The Ohio State University Libraries. Richard Kostelanetz has called him “the seminal American poet of my generation”. His work, publications, and papers are collected in several major institutions, including Washington University (St. Louis), SUNY Buffalo, The Ohio State University, The Museum of Modern Art, and other major libraries. His PhD (UCLA 1970) is in Latin American Literature. His latest books are Select Poems, Poetry Hotel Press/Luna Bisonte Prods, 2016; The World of Burning, Luna Bisonte Prods, 2017; Poemas visuales, con movimientos con ruidos con combinaciones (with Osvaldo Cibils), Deep White Sound, 2017; and The Sweating Lake, Luna Bisonte Prods, 2017.
