| Tuesday, March 31, 2009 2:05PM | | | | On The Poetry Of Ernesto Cardenal | Posted By: George Wallace
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| Tags: jonathan cohen, ernesto cardenal, poetry, nicaragua | WITH JONATHAN COHEN IN THE LAND OF ERNESTO CARDENAL
Pluriverse: New and Selected Poems, a new book of translations edited by SUNY Stony Brook professor Jonathan Cohen of the life-work of the celebrated poet Ernesto Cardenal — “one of the world’s major poets” (Choice) and “the preeminent poet of Central America today” (Library Journal ) -- was celebrated at that campus on Apri 1, 2009, when Cohen appeared at the Stony Brook Poetry Center.
The book, published by New Directions, effectively follows Cardenal’s poetic development across six decades, from the early Imagist-influenced 'exterioso' poems and romantic epigrams of the early 1950s, to the increasingly political and theologically activist verse he wrote -- including his classic revolutionary documentary poem “Zero Hour.” From there it moves to poems on ecology and other matters, elegies to fallen Sandinistas, and on to the more reflective 'cosmic-mystical-scientific' dimensions of his later work.
Most everyone in the know knows Ernesto Cardenal, born in 1925 in Granada, Nicaragua. A revolutionary activist theologian, disciple of Thomas Merton, Cardenal is a Roman Catholic priest who served as ambassador for the Sandinistas, Minister of Culture in post-Somoza Nicaragua, and was co-founder of the international cultural center House of Three Worlds. A man hailed by Allen Ginsberg as "a major epic-historical poet," and "the outstanding socially committed poet of his generation in Spanish America" by the Times Literary Supplement in London.
Cohen, who has translated Enrique Lihn, Pedro Mir, and Roque Dalton, among others, has been deeply engaged in the poetry of Cardenal since 1970.
Cohen isn't the only translator in the book -- Thomas Merton, Kenneth Rexroth, and four others are involved. But this is Cohen's baby start to finish. He's set precedent enough for it. According to Robert Hass in the Washington Post Book World, "There could hardly be a better introduction to Cardenal than Jonathan Cohen's beautifully edited and really brilliant translations of his early poems." And in fact with "From Nicaragua, With Love: Poems (1979–1986)," Cohen was winner of the Robert Payne Award of the Translation Center at Columbia University.
Somewhat anecdotally, the book includes a short foreword by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. In it, Ferlinghetti recalls how he met Cardenal, and how when he visited Nicaragua during the Sandinista government, he brought with him a seed from Pasternak's grave, which he had received from Russian poet Andrei Voznesensky. "Ernesto and I gave an open air reading, plus a little ceremony in which I presented to him (the seed)," writes Ferlinghetti. "I don't know whether Ernesto ever planted this symbol of freedom, but he himself is such a seed."
Aside from planting seeds of ideology, to the general reader of poetry, Cardenal's early work -- as chosen by Cohen -- will be of interest from a number of viewpoints. Particularly, those wishing to see how the Objectivist ideas of Ezra Pound took hold in the writings of the Nicaraguan author will find some good samples.
The poem 'Leon' is a good example. "I used to live in a big house by the Church of St Francis /which had an inscription in the hall saying /AVE MARIA /and red corridors of brick /an old red-tiled roof /and windows with rusty iron grilles,
and a large courtyard just unbearable on stuffy afternoons
with a sad clock bird singing out the hours
and someone's pale aunt in the courtyard counting out the rosary..."
In short order, Cardenal leads us through the sights and sounds of that courtyard at all hours: "the noise of a door closing...a black coach /an empty cart rattling as it rolled the Calle Real /And then all the roosters in the neighborhood crowing..." and concludes with a pointed, yet understated image which serves as a prefigure of his later political and social concern:
"...and the jars of the milkmen clattering on the stone pavement
and a bread vendor knocking on a front door
and crying
BREAD
BREAD"
In these early poems, Cardenal has a rare knack for combining tenderness toward individuals caught up in injustice with tenacity of spirit in opposition to the larger forces in which they operate. Of particular interest is "With Walker In Nicaragua," a longer work concerning the William Walker Expedition, which occurred in the first half of the 1800s as part of an effort by the Southern Confederacy to bring Nicaragua -- and Central America -- under its umbrella.
Told from the viewpoint of a member of the expedition, it is surprisingly sympathetic to the individuals involved in the imperialist thrust, while speaking out against the injustice of their cause: "The voices of the people sounded strange to us /and their words ended faintly as in a song /And the sentry's cry was as musical as a bird's in the evening /Just the way in snow covered small towns in the States, come evening one hears the watchmen's voices cheery, full and clear...
...(and) the girls in Nicaragua
wore rosaries with gold crosses hanging from them
and stings of pearls around their heads and black tresses
And we fell in love with the women of that land."
In the poem "The Filibusterers," he states this duality even more strongly. Of the individual men who were sent to Nicaragua, says Cardenal, 'There were scoundrels, thieves, gamblers, gunslingers /There were also honest men and gentlemen and brave men.'' But he takes aim squarely at American industrialists, upon whom he will frequently heap blame for exploitation of Central American peoples and manipulation of American governments: 'Vanderbilt and Morgan knew where we were going...And down in Nicaragua they stole money from the dead.'
In subsequent works, Cardenal tends toward longer works, and in order to sustain the reader's interest, he frequently turns to a more complex technique, creating cinematic narrative collages and entire fabrics of narrative.
It is a necessary approach in offering up these more highly didactic poems -- with their overt political and social messages and straight factual information, the poet's effort to create an engaging interweaving of cinematic pieces helps relieve the factual and ideological load. Thus in the best of these poems, Cardenal offers up a collage-like pastiche -- or as some critics explain, the poet utilizes crosscutting, vignette, juxtaposition and contrast to establish his effect.
A number of later works are engagingly meditative in tone, reflecting Cardenal's theological calm. Other of the later works will be more difficult to access for the general reader of poetry, but the best of these poems provide a rich interwoven fabric of commentary on the political, social and theological concerns Cardenal is confronted by.
One might argue that Cardenal reaches a summary peak in the major work "Zero Hour," which treats the assassination of Nicaraguan revolutionary leader Cesar Augusto Sandino, who drove US Marines from Nicaragua in the 30s, during the Somoza regime. A wide ranging piece, it reaches descriptive heights in its depiction of Sandino, considered a peasant bandido by the Somoza authorities:
"His face was as vague as that of a ghost,
remote because of his brooding and thinking
and serious because of the campaigns and the wind and the rain...
...And Sandino wasn't intelligent or cultured,
but he turned out to have mountain intelligence.
'In the mountains everything is a teacher,' Sandino used to say...
...and it seemed as if every cabin was spying for him."
Later, the arch-enemies Sandino and Somoza confront each other: "I talked with Sandino half an hour,"/said Somoza to the American minister, /but I can't tell you what he talked about /because I don't know what he talked about..."
"'And so, you see, I will never own any property'
And 'It is un-con-sti-tu-tion-al,' Sandino would say,
'The National Guard is unconstitutional.'
'An insult!' said Somoza to the American Minister."
The late Richard Elman calls Zero Hour, in The Nation, perhaps the "single greatest historical poem about gringoism, a patriotic epic of sorts. It's a poem of heroic evocation in which the death of a hero is also seen as the rebirth of nationhood: when the hero dies, green herbs rise where he has fallen."
But it is in the more intimate poems that Cardenal shows his rarest talent -- the ability to love and be angry in one perfectly formed phrase. It is telling that, at the Stony Brook celebration of "Pluriverse," Cohen handed out a broadside -- a translation of Cardenal's lovely poem, "Managua, 6:30 pm," which aptly illustrates this talent. "In the evening the neon lights are soft /and the mercury streetlamps, pale and beautiful … /And the red star on a radio tower /in the twilight sky of Managua /looks as pretty as Venus /and an ESSO sign looks like the moon..." writes Cardenal, a most clear and loveable utterance of a theologian who embraces the world and is, yet, determined to change it:
"all proclaim the glory of God!
(Kiss me under the glowing signs oh God)
KODAK TROPICAL RADIO F&C REYES
they spell your Name
in many colors.
“They broadcast
the news …”
I don’t know
what else they mean
I don’t defend the cruelty behind these lights
And if I have to give a testimony about my times
it’s this: They were primitive and barbaric
but poetic "
There is much in the didactic and ideology of the poems of Ernesto Cardenal that could prove difficult of access to a general reader. However, after close reading of key poems in Pluriverse, I consider it to be a book of major importance, revealing through Cohen's editorship an author of tenderness and tenacity, and helping to further establish Cardenal's claim to an enduring place in world literature. | | |
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20 Comments | Add a Comment |
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| 1-15-10 7:18AM: nick matyas said...
Very nice posting and I like it. I hope others will like it also.
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| 4-4-09 7:01PM: Russ Green said...
George, you have effectively sucked me in with your review of Jonathan Cohen's translation of Ernesto Cardenal's soul shaking work. I see I have to delve into his poetry immediately, taking into consideration my concern for justice, humanity, and love in my own work. I am very moved by the idea of expressing love and anger in the same phrase as Cardenal did in "Managua, 6:30pm." You have shown here that any poet, writer, humanitarian, activist, or just concerned individual with a pulse cannot help but be startled awake by his literary accomplishment. Thanks again George, for enlightening my world a little more, as you continually do.
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| 4-3-09 12:18PM: M. L. Liebler (Detroit) said...
This is a fine piece of writing to honor one of the world's great hero poets. More people would be better human beings if they knew and read Ernesto's great poems. Thank You George Wallace for contributing to making more people aware of one of the truly great poets of our times. Amen brother poet Amen!
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| 4-1-09 7:08PM: Susan Tepper said...
George, this is a gorgeous tribute to Ernesto Cardenal's rich work. I know some of his poems, and now I'm anxious to dive in. The excerpt from "Leon" is entrancing, you just want to be there, you want that bread.
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| 4-1-09 3:38PM: Nancy Henry said...
Thank you, George, for this luminous and informative review, and for including the lines of "Managua, 6:30 pm"....I cannot stop reading them. I will be ordering Pluriverse from my beloved independent bookstore, Gulf of Maine!
Nancy
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| 4-1-09 11:44AM: Cindy Sheehan said...
wish i could be there!
good luck,
cindy
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| 4-1-09 11:18AM: D. H. Melhem said...
George: Your brilliant review of the new Jonathan Cohen translation of Ernesto Cardenal renders a great service to poetry. In this time of socioeconomic ferment, we especially need poets of Cardenal's stature and quality to show what poetry can mean and accomplish. Cardenal offers both spiritual and humanistic guidance, through a lens that spans existence with love and humility, and that can offer profound perceptions and meditations on everything from an empty beer can to a prayer for Marilyn Monroe. Yu have my admiration and profound thanks.
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| 4-1-09 8:38AM: D. Poe said...
Thank you George for sharing your reflections on and analysis of Ernesto Cardenal's work. I am interested in hearing more about his later work which you reference as less accessible. Perhaps you would consider another blog piece at some point. I enjoyed this introduction to Ernesto Cardenal's poetics very much.
Best wishes,
D. Poe
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| 4-1-09 4:12AM: Anonymous said...
thank you george, for taking the time to share your own vivid and necessary understanding of poetry, people and the 'pluriverse' and bringing this translation of cardenal's work, by cohen, to our attention. now, to google amazon! geraldine, poet, cumbria uk:
'Cardenal's lovely poem, "Managua, 6:30 pm," which aptly illustrates this talent. "In the evening the neon lights are soft /and the mercury streetlamps, pale and beautiful … /And the red star on a radio tower /in the twilight sky of Managua /looks as pretty as Venus /and an ESSO sign looks like the moon..."
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| 3-31-09 10:21PM: Ian Wilder said...
An inspiring lesson in politics, poetry and life. I wish I could learn how to balance the three as well.
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| 3-31-09 8:50PM: Ian Griffiths said...
Thank you George for such an in depth and inspiring review.I will be certainly watching for his name on the bookshelves.
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| 3-31-09 5:43PM: John G.Hall said...
The task of a revolutionary poet is unite the slogans with the small print, to join up the daisey chain of personal heroic acts and the being aware of being a part of this handing on of love.
By pointing to this illuminated translation by Jonathan Cohen, George has given the new reader a real treasure of a poet.
In the end Ernesto believes poetry is important enough to listen to and think in a new way visionary way about history, poltics and the it of being.
Thanks George, I've just ordered my copy of Pluriverse, re-discovery underway.
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| 3-31-09 5:31PM: Amy Cunningham said...
If we are to truly understand other cultures, we should go a step beyond learning the language and learn their poets as well. People like Cohen make this possible. Thanks to GW for pointing out this translation.
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| 3-31-09 5:08PM: Dr. David B. Axelrod said...
Here is a case of true synergy. An absolutely wonderful poet has been rendered by an absolutely wonderful translator, and together, they are reviewed by an absolutely wonderful commentator. How grateful we should be for this coming together of sensitivity, literacy, skill! It begins with the poet himself, but Jon Cohen, whose accomplishments have delighted me through the years, continues his fine work. George Wallace, whose own poetry is a marvel and whose www.poetrybay.com has risen to archival significance, turns the review itself into an art.
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| 3-31-09 4:42PM: Guardians of Water said...
from the Kogi myth of Creation
First there was the sea,
Everything was dark.
There was no sun, moon,
people, animals nor plants.
There was just sea everywhere.
The sea was the Mother.
She was water
and there was water everywhere.
She was the river, the lake, the sea -
and She was everywhere.
She was called Gaulchovang.
The Mother was not people
nor anything,
She was Aluna.
She was the Spirit
of what was coming
and She was Thought and Memory.
The Mother only existed in thought,
in the lowest world,
in the deepest part,
alone.
• Ernesto Cardenal,
Antología de poesía primitiva
___________________________________
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| 3-31-09 4:27PM: Lorraine Conline said...
Reading George Wallace's post about Jonathan Cohen's translations of the work of Ernesto Cargenal has given me an appetite for reading and learning more about the Central American poet.
I especially enjoyed the excerpts of the poem, "Leon". I want to know and read more!
I too wish I could be there on the 1st!
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| 3-31-09 4:16PM: Willie James King said...
Wow! George Wallace has definitely sold me on this
seemingly fabulous translation by Choen.
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| 3-31-09 3:24PM: Angelo Verga said...
Thanks. Many thanks. Americans once again have an opportunity to become familiar with a poet of great power and importance, as major a figure as Whitman or Neruda, and largely unknown even to other poets thanks to his being ignored by the gatekeepers and self-appointed makers of taste.
Cardenal deserves a broader audience and perhaps this book will help make that happen.
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| 3-31-09 3:23PM: Jonathan Harris said...
What a wonderful, informative article by George Wallace! I, for one, hope to get my hands on this translation by Cohen. I can't wait!
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| 3-31-09 2:54PM: Anonymous said...
Thanks for this post and informing me about the Central American poet Ernesto Cardenal. I was introduced to Cesar Vallejo through Tino Villanueva and Clayton Eshleman, and I am glad Cohen is doing work with this poet--wish I could be there!
Doug Holder/ Ibbetson Street Press
http://ibbetsonpress.com
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