Vertaallab is een serie op Ooteoote die dichters uit andere taalgebieden aan de lezer voorstelt. Elke aflevering minstens één spiksplinternieuw gedicht. Dat u mag vertalen, als u wilt. Graag zelfs, wat ons betreft. Post uw vertaling van één van de twee of beide onderstaande gedichten als reactie op dit bericht.

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SPEAKING AS ONE OF THE OBVIOUS

So this is what it’s like to have a porch.
Waiting for all the sunsets to gang up.
He seems to be telegraphing psychic
creases into his trout obligations
or they are perhaps coming up that
there mangy fox trod road. Two pink
crocodiles stare down the house,
the ungainly lopsided co-op, waiting
to survive being run down. They
cannot, as objects, defy projection.

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CREATIVE RESPONSE

Who wants to read
just to think of things
to get sort-of paid
to say? I took German
once. I gave it back
and asked the teacher
to fail me mid-term
so I could stop coming
by class (I don’t exactly
believe in solutions).
Now we’re back in time.
“Next Level: Michael
Boley’s Importance.”
There’s going to be
goth bathroom readings.
There’s two weeks
off before the annual
major event. There
sucks, and doesn’t
feel relaxed enough
to make noises in
a glandular series
of toxicolor johns.
You know you don’t
believe in agreement.
At the press conference
they all agreed they
were alone, like western
art, tacitly. Dumpster
art on 4th and 3rd keeps
changing without
improvement. As if
I know, being closer
to mountains, what
becomes of the broken
hearted sign painter.
It was pleasant to be
called a lodestar
today. Did she say
lodestone? Either
way it was like, it
wasn’t like, I don’t
believe so much in
likeness, but I did
feel closer to my
environment for a
little while. I’m glad
I didn’t turn into air,
sentimental a risk as,
back there, that didn’t
take, seams-wise. It’s
easier to write than
it is to read in the dark
daylight that, right
now, taunts us with
the casual certainty
of a letter of recom-
mendation: I am
writing on behalf
of these here urbane
pigeons whose semi-
gorgeous cooing I
believe would lend
sophistication, wisdom
and a matter of fact
tonal space pierced
by inevitability to
your questionably
administered set of
necessities. What
matter the twisted
condition of some
of their legs? They,
unlike most of your
typical prospects,
are drawn to the
few remaining crack-
pots in our mutual
neck of the woods
who retain the pride
to keep from dressing
up in the process
of undressing, which
every pigeon knows
is just another surface
built to curry favor
with the mind a pretty
boss projects. Like Lebron
against the Mavs in
the NBA finals, these
pigeons have already
checked out on that
score. You need to
admit the company
of these birds. As such
I give them my highest
recommendation.
Sincerely, Anselm
Berrigan, author of
five books of poetry,
most recently Notes
from Irrelevance, a
book-length poem
published in 2011
by Wave Books.

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Anselm Berrigan’s meest recente dichtbundel Notes from Irrelevance (2011, Wave Books) bestaat uit één lang gedicht. Zijn eerdere boeken zijn Some Notes on My Programming en Zero Star Hotel, beiden uitgegeven door Edge Books, en Free Cell, verschenen bij City Lights. Flowers and Cream (i.s.m. de dichter John Coletti) zal later dit jaar bij Skasers verschijnen.
Anselm Berrigan woont in New York City. Hij is poëzieredacteur bij The Brooklyn Rail.