The Poems of Sidney West (Earthworks) - Softcover

Gelman, Juan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1844714640 ISBN 13: 9781844714643

Publisher: Salt, 2009

Synopsis

This translation offers for the first time the splendid poems of Sidney West to English readers, supposedly their original addressees. West is among the best imaginary poets of America, allegedly his native land, and of all possible lands. His texts, although rich with exceptional life experience, will satisfy those who still believe in “the death of the author.” No less satisfied, in spite of his anti-romanticism, will be those captivated by “committed writing.” And in another paradox that West himself would have loved, if he had existed, what’s offered here constitutes a translation of a translation. An English version based on the prior version into Spanish completed in 1969 by Argentine writer Juan Gelman, one of the greatest living Latin American poets. He should be considered the genuine author of the author of these poems, and the poems themselves.

Gelman’s superb text poses a radical question: must human beings in modern society die in order to recuperate their human condition? Something happens after the passing of the book’s thirty-five characters, their absence causes unforeseen consequences, generates certain kinds of presence. This profound questioning of Western assumptions surrounding death requires an innovative form that challenges the traditional boundaries between poetry and narrative, privileges the magical as a vital aspect of reality, and ultimately seeks a redefinition of the lyric persona. In The Poems of Sidney West, writing, without lessening its essential condition of creative practice, is conceived as an instrument not only to interpret but to transform the world.

About this title

About the Author

Juan Gelman (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1930) is one of the most read and influential poets in the Spanish language. He was published more than twenty books of poetry since 1956 and was been translated into fourteen languages. A political activist and critical journalist since his youth, Gelman was not only been a literary paradigm but also a moral one, within and outside of Argentina. Among his most recent awards were the National Poetry Prize (Argentina, 1997), the Juan Rulfo Prize in Latin American and Caribbean Literature (Mexico, 2000), the Pablo Neruda Prize (Chile, 2005), the Queen Sofia Prize in Ibero-American Poetry (Spain, 2005), and the Cervantes Prize (the most important award given to a Hispanic writer, Spain, 2007). He died in Mexico City in 2014.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

lament for sim simmon’s weeping

one autumn morning sim simmons

woke without eyes as if they had fallen in favor of the season

“but no matter” he said

and smoothed his memory

“no matter no matter at all” sim simmons would say

placing empty trees in eye sockets

trees he fed with stampedes

cries forgetfulness silent parts

nocturnal insects death’s bearers

made their rounds through the trees

“no matter” sim would say

spreading his tender wings

and circling the sky

“if I were a cloud” he would say “if I were a falcon or catastrophe

what my heart eats away at” he would say

“you have quenched yourself dove” sim simmons would say without weeping

“I have no eyes to cry” he would say “but I should”

he would say remembering everything vegetable

water weeping rain or river needs

a tender nest to guard against the cold

and so sim simmons began to weep

the trees flew all around him

and once again he had eyes to watch or to see or to suffer

and to weep without feeding anyone

“I deserve it” sim simmons would say late

“I quite deserve it” he would say with his eyes now dry

hard brilliant as the sun

beneath the Alabama land

two rivers were born where they buried him

one toward the north the other toward the south

for memory for oblivion

and everyone had water

but sim simmons did not:

he looked downward

now deserving or dead or sad

without trees without trees

Edition details

• Publisher: Salt
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1844714640
• ISBN 13: 9781844714643
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 152