Category Archives: Translations

Daisy Fried reads from The Year the City Emptied, translations and adaptions from Les Fleurs du Mal

1 Jun ’22

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

13 Feb ’22

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

21 Oct ’21

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 →

Une Charogne (The Carcass)

6 Jun ’17

… ……Charles Baudelaire wrote Une Charogne to his lover, Jeanne Duval, an actress and dancer, who met him when she left Haiti for France in 1842. Whether she died sooner or lived longer than the poet is in dispute, though … Continue reading →

Mariposa de Luz por Juan Ramón Jiménez

19 Jul ’16

… Mariposa de luz, la belleza se va cuando yo llego a su rosa. Corro, ciego, tras ella… la medio cojo aquí y allá… ¡Sólo queda en mi mano la forma de su huída! .. … Butterfly of light its … Continue reading →