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Inspired by live translation slams that proved to be audience favorites at the Blue Metropolis Montreal International Literary Festival, and again at PEN World Voices, PEN’s Online Translation Slam aims to showcase the art of translation by juxtaposing in a public forum two “competing” translations of a single work.
In the most recent installment, Jennifer Sarah Cooper and Odile Cisneros took on “roça barroca,” a poem by Brazilian poet, translator, and editor Josely Vianna Baptista.
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PORTUGUESE SLAM
roça barroca
by Josely Vianna Baptista
As almas são visíveis em forma de sombras.
Da religião Guarani, via Schaden
viu o primeiro sol
depois do inverno
desembrulhar, folho por
folho, os rebentos
em cada greta
e grumo
do terreno
foi descobrindo
grelos
e vergônteas,
ocelos verdes
e outros
arremedos
no alfobre
farto de bolor
e mofo,
sobre os sulcos
cheios
de refolhos
—em cada covo
um eco de silêncio,
a própria sombra
um paroxismo
de roxos
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baroque field
Souls are visible in the shape of shadows.
From the Guarani religion, via Schaden
saw the first sun
after winter
unwrap, fold by
fold, saplings
in each crack
and clump
of earth
went discovering
bulbs
and underbrush
green ocelli
and other
mimicries
seedbeds
teem with must
and molds,
over ruts
full
of refolding
—in each hold
an echo of silence,
its own shadow
a paroxysm
of violet
Translated by Jennifer Sarah Cooper
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Baroque Back Country
Souls can be seen in the form of shadows
From Guarani religion, via Egon Schaden
seeing the first sun
after winter
unwrapping, pleat
by pleat, the buds
and in every crack
and clump
of dirt
discovering
shoots
and sprouts
tiny green eyes
and other
mimicries
in the musty,
mildewy
nursery
on the furrowed
soil
full of folds
—in every hollow
an echo of silence
one’s own shadow
a spasm
of purples
Translated by Odile Cisneros
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