[Translation] New Bloggers Use Poetry to Describe Their Communities, Feelings, Friends
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Cross-posted on Global Voices and Rising Voices We can assume that ever since language was first given physical form, poetry (from the Greek poiesis, “making” or “creating”) has been a vehicle to express our saddest laments, our giddiest joys, and our most enigmatic secrets of love and mourning. Though there is no shortage of concern that the tradition of poetry will be lost among the bits and bytes of a digital age, there is also a growing mountain of evidence (in the form of blogging poets, or poetic bloggers) that the aesthetics and muse of prose can now reach farther and wider than ever before. The new bloggers of Rising Voices outreach projects in Colombia, Bolivia, and Bangladesh are more than just up-and-coming citizen journalists. They have also discovered the power of prose to reveal glimpses of the human emotions that bring us together and the local differences that make each of our communities unique. Poetry is always the most difficult of texts to translate and for this reason we have left the original Spanish and Bangla text followed by our best attempts of English translations. Tribute by Carmen Elena Paniagua of HiperBarrio: Tribute
Absent song Don’t cry when I depart and must leave you alone in the corner of forever; don’t forget that my voice remains recorded within your abdomen; don’t forget that my footprints are all over your body. You already know how to sing our melody by heart; your sadness and my crying have been confused many times in minor chords and my tears fall about your strings, violently halting the echo of your laments. Do not distress for my absence; let your slender body rest, until one night I return and together we sing once again the song of forever.
We Are Women by Sharmin Chowdhury Shikha of Nari Jibon:
We are women
Wake up today, wake up Don’t just sit Its time to push forward. Why are you stationary? Why the fear and shyness? We have a lot to do Why sit there in the dark corner? Why live your life struggling? The world is enlightened, happiness everywhere. Why are you in the dark, bogging your head down? Come out of that house See woman that the world unfurls Other women are not sitting at home They are coming out from the darkness In developed lands, developed world Women are on top in many places They are doing well because of education They have overcome all darkness. O brave women Roar for once and say We can, we can do everything We are women. Announcement by Diego Ospina of HiperBarrio:
Announcement
I’ll trade you a word for a kiss beautiful woman. Once a Day by Zannat Ara Amzad of Nari Jibon:
Once a day
If the unknown, unseen could be met and known Someday… You and I would have wings The sky would turn blue Talking eye on eye I don’t know the time-date From the Heart of the Andes by Juan H. Apaza of Voces Bolivianas: From the Heart of the Andes
Screams of pain from From the deepest furrow of the andes
there is a spirit of the earth reflection harmony, respect, and life, ayni, reciprocity and gratitude ukapiniu sarstwa. Pachacuti has been fulfilled
uka jacha uru jutasta braided hair dancing the pankaras sound sicus and tharkas exclaim: The heart of the Andes has returned They broke your body in front of all
dragged it through the streets and plazas mocked your mind … and your heart became waca. and they could not kill you …! The heart of the andes has returned,
and beats in thousands of spirits, your courage is latent, Jilata … Julian Apaza … Tupac Katari Friend by Jesmin Ara Amzad of Nari Jibon:
Friend
Friend means likeness Love of two hearts Friend means a little hope Having new dreams Friend means a feint touch And fantasize about it Friend means moving like The agile pair of nightingales Friend means gentle sky Livelihood of sun and cloud Friend means dew drops In the morning twilight Friend means being happy And be a little sensitive to other It seems a little bit of twitch Somewhere in the heart Translations by Rezwan and David Sasaki. |
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[Grant] Gobierno Abierto América Latina
This blog post is a summary of a $25,000 grant from Omidyar Network to the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness to support the convening of Latin American transparency networks in Mexico City on March 20, 2012 to discuss the opportunities, challenges,
[Grant] Gobierno Abierto América Latina
This blog post is a summary of a $25,000 grant from Omidyar Network to the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness to support the convening of Latin American transparency networks in Mexico City on March 20, 2012 to discuss the opportunities, challenges,
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OpenSpending.org has simple goal that is extraordinarily difficult to achieve: wherever you may live, you enter in how much you earn per month, press a button, and poof, a stunning visualization of where your tax money goes. Let’s say I’m
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OpenSpending.org has simple goal that is extraordinarily difficult to achieve: wherever you may live, you enter in how much you earn per month, press a button, and poof, a stunning visualization of where your tax money goes. Let’s say I’m
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Helping Politicians Keep Their Promises
Politicians love to make promises. Here in Mexico, presidential contender Enrique Peña Nieto even spent the morning of the first official day of campaigning at a public notary’s office where he signed his name next to his first three campaign
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Politicians love to make promises. Here in Mexico, presidential contender Enrique Peña Nieto even spent the morning of the first official day of campaigning at a public notary’s office where he signed his name next to his first three campaign
[Report] Parliamentary Power to the People
Brazil-based transparency and freedom of information scholar Greg Michener has authored the first major report on the use of online platforms to understand and monitor parliaments in Latin America. Commissioned by the Open Society Foundations, “Parliamentary Power to the People,”
[Report] Parliamentary Power to the People
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Transparently Advocating for Transparency
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Update: I have removed the “within 15 days of the signing of a grants agreement” from the commitment. For a variety of reasons it may not be possible to publish the related information so soon after the agreement has been
Back to My Printing Press
I started blogging at el-oso.net in December 2003. I didn’t expect it to last long; mostly I wanted to keep a travel diary for a road trip around Mexico, and I figured, why not keep it on the Internet? Several
Back to My Printing Press
I started blogging at el-oso.net in December 2003. I didn’t expect it to last long; mostly I wanted to keep a travel diary for a road trip around Mexico, and I figured, why not keep it on the Internet? Several
Conference-Slutting Toward Good Governance
2012 looks a lot like a convenient excuse for the Latin American diplomatic jet set to rack up their American Express rewards points while in Cartagena, Brasilia, Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos, Rio de Janeiro and elsewhere. Looking through a less
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2012 looks a lot like a convenient excuse for the Latin American diplomatic jet set to rack up their American Express rewards points while in Cartagena, Brasilia, Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos, Rio de Janeiro and elsewhere. Looking through a less
The Carlsbad Marathon
It was about five o’clock in the morning when Cindylu, with her sweet little voice — all chamomile and honey — says, “Oso, you should probably put some vaseline in your butt crack.” That’s when I knew I was in
The Carlsbad Marathon
It was about five o’clock in the morning when Cindylu, with her sweet little voice — all chamomile and honey — says, “Oso, you should probably put some vaseline in your butt crack.” That’s when I knew I was in
Thanks, perfect timing as I was working on a poetry section in one of my classes and thinking about how new media forms may be effecting our understanding of poetic forms.
Happy New Year!
Glad to hear. Looking forward to reading your posts on what you and your students come up with. Thanks for stopping by Thivai!
hola David
Hacía varios días que no miraba mi blog y hoy que lo hice, encontré mi poema en inglés; me encantó.
saludos.
Hola Carmen,
Que bueno que te gustó la traducción. Una amiga acaba de decirme que hice un error con respeto a la traducción de “de memoria.” Ojalá que no haya más errores. Saludos y nos vemos pronto.
Hola Oso,
Rebueno este post! Me permites que lo publique en http://www.nochesdepoesia.com con link hacia aqui? Creo que gente de mis redes podrian estar muy interesados.
Gracias de antemano y auguri for the New Year!
Élizabeth
http://www.nochesdepoesia.com
Claro Élzita, con gusto.
Sin duda alguna, un poema que muestra la nobleza de su autora.
De acuerdo.
Ojalá que traduzcamos los otros poemas al español pronto. Oye, donde vas a publicar tus fotos de hoy? Saludos!