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issue 20: september - october 2000 

catalan translation | spanish translation 

THREE POEMS
Jonathan Monroe

Jonathan Monroe's poems, in verse and prose, have appeared recently and are forthcoming in Aught, Combo, Epoch, Harvard Review, Nine to Zero,Slope, Verse, and Xcp: Cross-Cultural Poetics. Author of A Poverty of Objects: The Prose Poem and the Politics of Genre (Cornell UP), he is currently completing a book on recent cross-genre writing, Poetry Among the Discourses: Contemporary Poetry and Cultural Criticism. A special double issue of Poetics Today on new avant-garde poetries, for which he guest edited a section called "After Shock: Poetry and Cultural Politics since 1989," appeared last spring 2000. Jonathan Monroe is Professor of Comparative Literature, and Director of the John S. Knight Writing Program at Cornell University. 

(from Hinge of Speech)

Mysteries of Obstruction I

 
Beyond the peach stand where
we stop every year on

our way to the beach
where one lane

becomes two
and the cars back up
 
for miles approaching
no one knows why

when we arrive
on the other side

of Hamlet, South Carolina
there's no way to determine

what keeps us from moving forward
until we get there

until the two lanes
converge

and the cars can resume
where they're heading
 
 
Inference
 
Through the glass door
of the second story

of the beach house
in the rain

the middle-aged man in his boat
(who can't be seen)

sees the middle-aged man
in his bedroom

lifting weights
in the mirror

tacking upwind
against the tide

 
Survey
 
How many losses
came between you

and your most recent
thought?

Just now, for example,
what evidence do you have

that you were here
when this started

that the signals
you were sending

will be here
when you're gone,

will outlast you?

__________________________________

índex                                               original en anglès

TRES POEMES
Jonathan Monroe

Els poemes de Jonathan Monroe, en vers i en prosa, han aparegut recentment a les revistes nord-americanes Aught, Combo, Epoch, Harvard Review, Nine to Zero, Slope, Verse, i Xcp: Cross-Cultural Poetics. Autor de l'assaig "A Poverty of Objects: The Prose Poem and the Politics of Genre" (Cornell UP), actualment completa un llibre sobre la barreja de gèneres en l'escriptura actual, Poetry Among the Discourses: Contemporary Poetry and Cultural Criticism. Es professor a Cornell University (Ithaca, Nova York).

(de "Hinge of Speech")

Misteris d’obstrucció I
 
Més enllà del taulell de préssecs on
ens aturem cada any de

camí a la platja
on la via

es divideix en dos
i els cotxes fan marxa enrere
 
durant milles apropant-se
ningú no sap per què

quan arribem
a l’altra banda

de Hamlet, South Carolina
no hi ha manera d’aclarir

què ens impedeix seguir endavant
fins que hi arribem

fins que les dues vies
convergeixen

i els cotxes poden seguir
cap a on anaven


Inferència
 
Per la porta de vidre
del segon pis

de la casa de la platja
sota la pluja

l’home de mitjana edat a dins la barca
(que no es veu)

veu l’home de mitjana edat
a l’habitació

que fa peses
davant del mirall

virant cap al vent
contra la marea
 
 
 
Enquesta
 
Quantes pèrdues
hi ha hagut entre tu

i el teu darrer
pensament?

Per exemple, ara,
quines proves tens

que fossis aquí
quan això va començar

que els senyals
que enviaves

seran aquí
quan te n’hagis anat,

que et sobreviuran?

__________________________________________________

SOBRE EL TRADUCTOR:

MELCION MATEU ADROVER (Barcelona, 1971) és graduat per Cornell University en Literatura Comparada i Llicenciat en Filologia Hispànica per la Universitat de Barcelona. És autor de Vula evident (Premi Octavio Paz de Poesia, 1998) i traductor, entre d'altres, de Michael Ondaatje i David Guterson.

__________________________________________________

  índice         sp                                 english original

TRES POEMAS
Jonathan Monroe

Los poemas de Jonathan Monroe, en verso y en prosa, han aparecido ultimamente en las revistas norteamericanas Aught, Combo, Epoch, Harvard Review, Nine to Zero, Slope, Verse, y Xcp: Cross-Cultural Poetics. Autor del ensayo "A Poverty of Objects: The Prose Poem and the Politics of Genre" (Cornell UP), actualmente completa un libro sobre la mezcla de géneros en la escritura actual, Poetry Among the Discourses: Contemporary Poetry and Cultural Criticism. Es professor en Cornell University (Ithaca, Nueva York).

(de "Hinge of Speech")

Misterios de obstrucción I
 
Más allá del tenderete de melocotones
donde cada año nos paramos de

camino a la playa
donde la vía se

bifurca en dos
y los coches hacen marcha atrás
 
durante millas acercándose
nadie sabe por qué

cuando llegamos
al otro lado de

Hamlet, South Carolina
no podemos aclarar

qué nos impide seguir adelante
hasta que llegamos

hasta que las dos vías
convergen

y los coches pueden seguir
adonde iban


Inferencia
 
Per la puerta de cristal
del segundo piso

de la casa de la playa
bajo la lluvia

el hombre de mediana edad en la barca
(que no se ve)

ve al hombre de mediana edad
en el cuarto

haciendo pesas
ante el espejo

vira en dirección al viento
contra la marea
 
 
 
Encuesta
 
¿Cuántas pérdidas
ha habido entre tu
y tu pensamiento

más reciente?
Por ejemplo, ahora,

¿qué pruebas tienes
de que estuvieras aquí

cuando esto empezó
que las señales

que hacías
estarán aquí

cuando te hayas ido
que te sobrevivirán?

__________________________________________________

© 2000 Jonathan Monroe
© Catalan and Spanish translations by Melcion Mateu Adrover

These poems and their translations  may not be archived or distributed further without the author's express permission. Please see our conditions of use.

navigation:                         barcelona review #20                 september - october 2000
-Fiction

George Saunders: Sea Oak
Anthony Bourdain: Bobby At Work
Robert Antoni: How Iguana Got Her Wrinkles...
Anne Donovan: Hieroglyphics
Yvonne Vera:
excerpt from Butterfly Burning
Clayton Hansen: A Box for the Sand Country
Nuria Amat: excerpt from Intimacy

-Essays

Carole Maso: Rupture, Verge, and Precipice...
Lawrence Norfolk: Being Translated...
Translators' Replies to Norfolk

-Poetry

John Ashbery: 3 Poems
Jonathan Monroe: 3 Poems

-Interview Carole Maso
-Article September and October in Barcelona
-Quiz

Harry Crews
Answers to last issue's Toni Morrison Quiz

-Regular Features Book Reviews
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