Category Archives: Translations

Alfred Corn reads his translation of Rilke’s First Elegy from the Duino Elegies

A few years ago, the news that Alfred Corn was working on a translation of Rainer Maria Rilke’s Duino Elegies made me very happy. When I was in my early twenties, Rilke was one of the poets who showed … Continue reading →

Le Pont Mirabeau read by Guillaume Apollinaire and translated by Ron Padgett

21 Oct ’21

The best translation by far that I have come across of Guillaume Apollinaire’s poetry is by Ron Padgett in a book published by the New York Review of Books in 2015 simply titled, Zone, Selected Poems. When Ron Padgett … Continue reading →

David Bowie and Arthur Rimbaud

1 May ’20

… Not doing much this morning, but not doing is doing, right? Listening to Youtube: Martha and the Vandellas, Santana, and David Bowie: the man who could do a show. I’ve always thought “Heroes” was Bowie’s homage to Arthur Rimbaud’s … Continue reading →

Peter Valente translates Vers Dorés by Gérard de Nerval

26 Dec ’19

… In my early twenties when I started to study French, I listened to Edith Piaf, translated Le Petit Prince, and bought a bilingual book of Symbolist Poets that included Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine and Gérard de Nerval, … Continue reading →

Yemen by Haithem Al-Ezzi

29 Nov ’19

… At one time, peace and calm prevailed throughout my city, and everyone was sleeping in tranquility. Suddenly, without any previous alarm, there were horrible and unspeakable voices everywhere. We saw people being killed, body parts flying, ground burning, houses … Continue reading →

Lines 644-691 from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book Three with a photo by Stanley Stellar

18 Aug ’19

… When I recently saw the photo by Stanley Stellar of a beautiful painting of a phallic man with a dolphin, I remembered some lines from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, a tale told by the captain of a ship who tries to … Continue reading →

El Beso (The Kiss) por Juan Ramón Jiménez

1 Sep ’17

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Les Chercheuses de Poux par Arthur Rimbaud

9 Jul ’17

… My favorite poem by Rimbaud is innocent and sensual; and there are those who would call it repulsive. It’s all about a boy’s sexual awakening. The boy has run away from home and is now dirty but found by … Continue reading →

Le Léthé par Charles Baudelaire

16 Jun ’17

.. Viens sur mon coeur, âme cruelle et sourde, Tigre adoré, monstre aux airs indolents; Je veux longtemps plonger mes doigts tremblants Dans l’épaisseur de ta crinière lourde; Dans tes jupons remplis de ton parfum Ensevelir ma tête endolorie, Et … Continue reading →