Friday, June 6, 2008

Lennon’s Sweat

Rock & roll is a notion,
By which we can assess,
People establishment;
Let me rephrase it again,
Rock & roll is a notion,
By which we can assess,
People establishment… ours!
***
Despite being a non-believer
The fact is overwhelming
And that's certainty.
***
The dream was overturned,
What can I say?
The dream is overturned.
***
Yesterday, a daydream revolt,
Nowadays an amusing leisure
Everybody's looking for a thrill.
***
Merchandise and consumer
Are no longer distinguishable
Marx’s guess is now establishment.
***
Lennon is dead, groupies are aged
And grown-ups are rich… but now
I'm neither john nor paul,
I'm neither mike nor keith,
And so dear friends,
You just have to realize,
Not just the dream is over
But never was…
******
[Based on a song by Lennon himself: "God"]*

Czeslaw Milosz

Un Poema para el Fin de la Centuria

***(Versión de José Juan Góngora Cortés)
***
Cuando al fin, todo estuvo bien,
y la noción de pecado se había esfumado
y la tierra estaba lista
- en paz universal -
para consumirse y regocijarse
sin credos ni utopías,
***
yo, por razones desconocidas,
sitiado por los libros
de profetas y teólogos,
de filósofos, de poetas,
seguía buscando una respuesta,
frunciendo el ceño, haciendo muecas,
despertando en la noche y balbuceando al amanecer.
***
Lo que me oprimía de tal forma,
era un tanto vergonzoso.
Haberlo dicho en voz alta
no hubiera mostrado tacto ni prudencia.
Y hasta hubiese aparecido como un ultraje
en contra de la salud de la humanidad.
¡Por desgracia!, mi recuerdo
no quiere abandonarme.
Y en él viven seres...
cada uno con su propio dolor,
cada uno con su propio morir,
con su propia trepidación.
***
¿Por qué, entonces, la inocencia
en las playas paradisiacas:
Un cielo inmaculado
sobre la iglesia de la higiene?
¿Es acaso porque Eso
fue hace mucho tiempo?
***
A un hombre sabio y santo
- reza un cuento árabe -
dijo Dios un tanto maliciosamente:
«Si yo hubiera revelado a la gente
cuán buen pecador eres tú...
ellos nunca te hubieran alabado?»
***
«Y yo», contestó el hombre pío,
«si hubiera develado a ellos
cuan misericordioso eres...
nadie te hubiera tomado en cuenta?»
***
¿A quién debo dirigirme
con este asunto, tan sombrío,
de dolor e incluso de culpa
en la arquitectura del mundo,
si, ya sea aquí mismo... abajo
o allá arriba en las alturas,
no hay poder que pueda abolir
la causa y el efecto?
***
No pienses, no recuerdes
la muerte en la cruz,
aunque cada día muera
el Único que ha amado,
quien, sin necesidad alguna,
consintió y permitió
que existiera todo lo que es,
incluyendo los clavos de la tortura.
***
Totalmente enigmático.
Imposiblemente intrincado.
Es mejor parar aquí mismo.
Este discurso no es para la gente.
Bendita seas celebración.
Las vendimias y las cosechas.
Aún y cuando no a todos
les haya llegado la calma.
***

Elvis' Breath

Is there any poetry after Rock & Roll…?
Poetry survives…
What gets hooked on a nightmare is Business
Business
Business... a huge parasite of rebellion...
Is there any poetry after Rock & Roll …?
The answer is plain… Yes, there is!
***
Previous Marx's Breath

Breaths So Far (An Index)

  1. Nietzsche’s Breath
  2. Einstein's Breath
  3. Darwin's Breath
  4. Abraham's Breath
  5. Leonardo's Breath
  6. Galileo's Breath
  7. Kafka's Breath
  8. Marx's Breath
  9. Elvis' Breath
  10. Joplin-Hendrix-Morrison's Breath

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Adornos’ Sweat

Setback or discovery?
Evidence or puzzlement?
***
I’m so sorry comrade Adorno,
After Auschwitz,
There’s Poetry yet: Survived!
***
But amusingly, what gets obsessed
Is a different kind of veiled fact
And its mammoth statement:
***
A cozy narrative
A snobbish self-esteem
A no name but: Religion.
***
I’m so sorry comrade Adorno,
After Auschwitz,
There’s Poetry & so on.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Kafka's Breath

Is there any poetry after Bizarreness …?
Poetry survives…
What gets hooked on a nightmare is Progress
Progress
Progress... an ongoing deed of our self-indulgent civilization...
Is there any poetry after Bizarreness…?
The answer is plain… Yes, there is!
***

Marx's Breath

Is there any poetry after Money…?
Poetry survives…
What gets hooked on a nightmare is Capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism... a ceaseless blunder of our narcissistic civilization...
Is there any poetry after Money…?
The answer is plain… Yes, there is!
***
Previous Kafka's Breath

Galileo's Breath

Is there any poetry after inquisition…?
Poetry survives…
What gets hooked on a nightmare is Belief
Belief
Belief… ambiguous leftover of an archaic psyche.
Is there any poetry after inquisition …?
The answer is plain… Yes, there is!
***

Darwin's Breath

Is there any poetry after Evolution…?

Poetry survives…

What gets hooked on a nightmare is Theodicy
Theodicy
Theodicy… enduring shock to human unfinished awareness.
Is there any poetry after Evolution…?

The answer is plain… Yes, there is!
***

Sunday, June 1, 2008

The Hidden Holocausts (There are more than one)

Act 1: The Protagonist
....©SFWY

The sumptuous Blame sings like a mask,
Louder than the naked evidence. Nudity
Which persists behind the deceptiveness
Whose dignity seems to be delightful.
....©SFWY
Like a disguise, the Blame keeps quiet,
Better than the victims' silence. Hush
Which survives behind the craftiness
Whose protocol seems to be enchanting.
....©SFWY
Act 2: The Accomplices
....©SFWY
The stage would have been the unclothed
Clue where to find the unspeakableness
But suddenly the oily Ignorance shew up
Distracting the brains with its glamour.
....©SFWY
What a performance!, said the Indifference
Grasping the undamaged people's awareness
With its bewitching tentacles while bravos
And hoorays were erupting from them, noisily.
....©SFWY
Epilogue: The Fact.
....©SFWY
Meanwhile, the blame sings a silky tune
And dances a graceful choreography over
The brittle bones of victims' silence:
Without skin-color, without human-race

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Leonardo's Breath

Is there any poetry after genius…?

Poetry survives…

What gets hooked on a nightmare is Autonomy
Autonomy
Autonomy... suddenly humanity becomes a grown-up…
Is there any poetry after genius …?

The answer is plain… Yes, there is!
***

Abraham's Breath

Is there any poetry after Judaism…?
Poetry survives…
What gets hooked on a nightmare is Race
Race
Race... a longtime hypocrisy of our selfish gene...
Is there any poetry after Judaism …?
The answer is plain… Yes, there is!
***
Previous Darwin's Breath

Einstein's Breath

Is there any poetry after Hiroshima…?
Poetry survives…
What gets hooked on a nightmare is Innocence
Innocence
Innocence... free will is not childish anymore...
Is there any poetry after Hiroshima…?
The answer is plain… Yes, there is!
***

Adulthood is here now
Adulthood
Adulthood stands right now
to be blamed.
***
Previous Nietzsche’s Breath
My own translation into
Spanish

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

El Aliento de Nietzsche

¿Hay poesía después de Auschwitz?
La poesía sobrevive…
Lo que se lía en una pesadilla es la Teología
Teología
Teología que hace mucho tiempo, machaca huesos, cuerpos, carne…
¿Hay poesía después de Auschwitz?
La respuesta es contundente… ¡Por supuesto!
***
De regreso al poema en Inglés

Nietzsche’s Breath

Is there any poetry after Auschwitz...?
Poetry survives…
What gets hooked on a nightmare is Theology
Theology
Theology which long ago has being smashing bones, bodies, flesh…
Is there any poetry after Auschwitz…?
The answer is plain… Yes, there is!
***
My own translation into Spanish