Annie Muir

More about the translator

Translated by Annie Muir

/ (Untitled)

You don't feel like a cigarrette today:
you see children in circles everywhere
―a permanent meeting of the PTSA...

Though there's no playground in your 'hood,
kids in shop windows are dressed as adults;
you walk with your left hand on your tummy...

And a school trip of nursery Wolves
cross Stroud Green Road,
you look up and your head is turning,

there's a balloon elephant in the sky;
you can't tell why but strangely buy
liquorice at the tobbacco shop,

someone's deejaying Twinkle, twinkle, Little Star
and down the stairs there's a cot with a crying babydoll...
And you don't dare to go back home,

there you've got nothing for such quest...
You get into a bar,
you take a puff,

you go to the toilet
and ―panties down―
banish the misconception down the drain.
Translated by Annie Muir
El cigarret no et ve de gust:
arreu hi veus nens fent rotllana
―una reunió permanent de l'associació de pares i mares...

T'hi manquen parcs amb gronxadors aquí, al teu barri;
als aparadors sols hi anuncien prendes d’adult en miniatura;
dus la mà esquerra posada plana sobre la panxa...
i una excursió de la classe dels llops travessa la via Laietana;
alces el cap perquè ja et roda
i al cel hi ha un globus d'elefant;
no saps perquè però, a l'estanc,
t'hi compres dues pegadolces...
algú ha punxat el sol solet pel fil musical,
i al replà de l'escala hi ha un cotxet amb una nina que plora;

i ja no goses pujar a dalt,
no hi tens pas res d'això que et busca...
entres al bar,
empasses fum,
vas al lavabo,
i, calces avall,
desterres l'equívoc a les clavegueres.
/ (Untitled)

It's very human ― it is Nature
to go 'round fucking from starvation,
and it is animal ― imagination
the wish to see in the reflection
the same face.
Dear Swallow! Dad is coming
with a broom to knock down the nest,
while he says:
― You were born in spring,
but to a winter's child you'll give birth.
Translated by Annie Muir
És natura ― ben humana
el 'nar follant com d'una gana
i fantasia ― animal
voler veure-hi la ganyota,
la mateixa, al mirall.
Oreneta!
Ve mon pare que,
amb l'escombra, tomba el niu
mentre em diu:
―Vas néixer una primavera
i pariràs un fill dels hiverns.
/ (Untitled)

riders               fever               ills                   April
magicians        one                players            asters
thirst               October           barings    disaster
riders               fever               ills                   April
magicians        one               players            asters
thirst               October           barings           disaster
riders               fever               ills April
magicians        one            players            asters
thirst   October           barings           disaster
Translated by Annie Muir
genets             febre mals                abril
mags               junts jugadors          àsters
set                   octubre            nueses            desastre
genets             febre mals                abril
mags               junts jugadors          àsters
set                   octubre nueses            desastre
genets             febre mals                abril
mags               junts jugadors          àsters
set                   octubre nueses        desastre
Saint Eulalia / Santa Eulàlia

I inherited the martyr's fame
―the One-who-speaks-well,
but they shortened ―my name,
and I grew up just a chatty child.
If, for all she said, she didn't escape
the whips, the hooks, or the stake,
if her god could only just cover up
her dignity with snow,
for me, a defiant youth, death
awaits, bloody and unkind.
The cyclogenesis has been foretold.
But I will step forward and declare
―freely: this Love,
I will not gag it, even
if my mouth, crow-filled,
doveless, should burst.
Translated by Annie Muir
Jo só l'hereva de la ben parlada
però em retallaren ―el nom,
i vaig créixer només la que parla.
Si, amb tot el dir, ella no se salvà
dels fuets, dels ganxos, ni la foguera,
si el seu déu pogué tansols cobrir-li
la dignitat de neu,
a mi, jove insolent, una mort sanguinària
i inclement, m'espera.
La ciclogènesi està anunciada.
Malgrat això, em presentaré a declarar
― voluntària: aquest Amor
no el vull callar, encar
que em surtin corbs negres
no pas coloms, de la boca.
/ (Untitled)

Silence: the Earth will give birth to a tree.
Vicente Huidobro

My nightmares have so much flesh
that I wake up in a sweat, as though I'd let you inside
a rainy season in India, and I recall
just the smells ―your voice, a sitar―
And me as a mighty cow, offering up to day.
Translated by Annie Muir
Silencio la tierra va a dar a luz un árbol.
Vicente Huidobro

Hi ha tanta carn, als meus malsons,
que em llevo suada com d'haver-te deixat entrar
a l'estació humida de l'Índia, i recordo
només olors —el so de la teva veu, de sitar—
i jo, majestuosa vaca, m'ofreno al dia.
/ (Untitled)

These dead don't stink like dead.
The skinny moon bathes their faces,
and a bed of leaves brightens their sores,
and they smell of feathers from ravens and woodpeckers,

but, especially, rooting in the rocks,
in the rocks that make them at home in the holy grounds:
none of you will see a worm, or even a fly
the slime of no snail could wipe away their names.
And in August the roses bloom, too.
Translated by Annie Muir
Aquests morts no fan pudor de morts.
La lluna prima els renta la cara,
els esclareix les nafres un torrent de fulles seques
i van tot perfumats de plomes de pica-soques i cornelles
però, sobretot, arrelant a les pedres que són
a les pedres que els fan de casa en el camp d'ànimes,
no hi veureu cap cuca, ni una mosca tansols:
cap bava de caragol n'esborrarà mai els noms.
També les roses, a l'agost, hi floreixen.
/ (Untitled)

I had wings when I was born.
I know because my shoulderblades hurt
every time I fall flat on my face and try to stand.
Why they fell off or who
clipped them without my notice
is the mistery accompanying me
while I drag myself dismembered along the piece of life
that I get
Translated by Annie Muir
Quan vaig néixer, tenia ales.
Ho sé pel mal que em fan els omòplats
cada vegada que em foto de lloros i em provo d'alçar.
Per què em van caure o qui
me les tallà sense jo adonar-me'n
és el misteri que m'acompanyarà
mentre m'arrossego desmembrada pel tros de vida
que em toca.
Liebestod / Liebestod

It is well known, and has always been,
that the reality agreed upon is that of daylight,
no matter how much a lover would see the night’s veil prevail.
As the days shorten, therefore,
desire turns violent, passion inflames,
the idyll is restrained —you move on.

And yet —ah, those feral lovers
who dare to live out the long wintertide!
They possess so much night to spoke the flames, they forget
that it is known, and has always been,
that the accumulated flicker of breaths
may extinguish the fire, and so they die in vain.
Translated by Annie Muir
Se sap, de sempre,
que la realitat acordada és la de la llum del dia,
per més que tot amant voldria que la fosca prevalgués.
Quan s'escurcen els jorns, doncs,
el desig torna violent, la passió s'inflama,
l'idil·li es constreny —i passa.

Però, ai, els amants feréstecs
que gosen viure al llarg hivern!
Tenen tanta nit per servar la flama que obliden que
se sap, de sempre,
que per la tremolor d'alens acumulada,
el foc tot sol s'apaga i es moren per no res.

Annie Muir

Translated by Annie Muir

/ (Untitled)

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Saint Eulalia / Santa Eulàlia

/ (Untitled)

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/ (Untitled)

Liebestod / Liebestod