… I bought Cuento del Conejo y el Coyote illustrated by the artist Francisco Toledo when I was in Oaxaca in 1999 finishing up my novel. I’d first seen Toledo’s work about twelve years earlier when I was crashing in an apartment in Paris (yes!) … Read More →
Category Archives: Translations
Les Chercheuses de Poux by Arthur Rimbaud
… My favorite poem by Rimbaud is innocent and sexy at the same time. A boy has run away from home and now dirty but found some kind women place him by an open window where they start to pick lice out of his hair … Read More →
In my words, April 22 – 28
… On Friday I took the C uptown to 96th Street. A man on the train, as a pretty woman entered and sat down across from him, was reading the Times, but his eyes fluttered at the top of the page, wanting to look but … Read More →
La Beauté par Charles Baudelaire
… Je suis belle, ô mortels! comme un rêve de pierre, Et mon sein, où chacun s’est meurtri tour à tour, Est fait pour inspirer au poète un amour Eternel et muet ainsi que la matière. Je trône dans l’azur comme un sphinx incompris; J’unis … Read More →
La Primavera by Pablo Neruda
… El pájaro ha venido a dar la luz: de cada trino suyo nace el agua. Y entre agua y luz que el aire desarrollan ya está la primavera inaugurada, ya sabe la semilla que ha crecido, la raíz se retrata en la corola, se … Read More →
In my words, April 1 – 7
…. On April Fool’s Day, a friend, Dustin Kelly, who has become a berry farmer and producer of jellies, announced on Facebook: “Hey everybody, great news! It was kind of a back up plan, but I got an acceptance letter for a summer internship with … Read More →
In my words, February 11 – 17
… I’ve opened my living room windows letting in refreshing air and the songs of birds rising out of La Plaza. I can recognize three distinct calls, but have no idea to whom they belong. I don’t see the birds either, just branches of trees, … Read More →
Les Bijoux by Baudelaire
Your girlfriend gets naked. She puts on all of the jewelery you’ve ever bought her. Then she dances only for you. Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? Yet in Les Bijoux the poetry excites and entices all of the senses so that those reading, men and … Read More →
In my words, January 21 – 27
… Roman augurs … The word inauguration comes from Latin. An augur was a Roman priest who studied the flights of birds to predict the future in their patterns. The prefix in can mean no or not: immeasurable, incomplete, immoral. It can also mean a … Read More →
In my words, January 14 – 20
… It’s Monday afternoon around two. My morning class is over. I’m home, but leave at five-thirty to teach again till eight. I’m interviewing students Tuesday and Thursday from two PM to seven. I usually have afternoons off. Monday and Wednesday with morning and evening … Read More →
Le Chat par Charles Baudelaire
Le Chat Viens, mon beau chat, sur mon coeur amoureux; Retiens les griffes de ta patte, Et laisse-moi plonger dans tes beaux yeux, Mêlés de métal et d’agate. Lorsque mes doigts caressent à loisir Ta tête et ton dos élastique, Et que ma main s’enivre … Read More →
Carmina Catulli: 1 – 5
What follows are the first five poems of Catullus in Latin with humble translations by me; I also do a reading in Latin of Catullus 2: Passer. Hope you enjoy it and get a feeling for the sounds. The poems of Catullus come from a … Read More →