Spring Break (4)

Good hard day of work. Finished translating and typing (Spanish and English) the poems from Hinojosa's 3rd book (La Rosa de los Vientos) with a little help from Pablo on some of the trickier constructions. This guy is tough and wearing me down a little. Also worked on some revisions of my poems and tomorrow looks to be a big day for 1) working on new poems 2)doing four translations from Orillas de la Luz which is the 4th Hinojosa book 3) actually doing some Lang work---student poems and essays-- and 4) preparing for giving a reading tomorrow night at VCCA. I'm looking forward to the latter--will read some poems from Tourist at a Miracle and from some of the new Hinojosa translation. Will read one poem in Spanish so people can hear his music then the rest en ingles.


NCAA started today and I did okay in the early part but it looks like most of my night teams are heading for defeat. The big deal will be Nova since I actually have them in the final four. Last I looked they were down by ten (yikes).

An Hinojosa poem from his 3rd book which is all about imaginary travels:

N2

To peck above my cold palm,
the fluttering stars come down
and the Great Bear will never be white,
because it has forgotten its mimetic passion.

The blackened women who live in my house
have placed white-washed drapes
to erase the holes of my footprints.
Alone they have appeared from my boat sails.

Meanwhile, on a balcony of early frost,
I look over the curved horizon,
I see the smoke of London arrive,
born yellow in the chimneys
and, now white with age, it calls me in great voices
and asks with a hermit’s gesture
for the path to the North Pole.

Shrugging my shoulders turned to mist,
I give it the gift of Morse Code.

(from La Rosa de los Vientos)


Saludos,

Mark