Arte de caza

This poem comes from de Jesús’s sole poetry collection, Granos de Mudez (Ediciones Luminarias, expanded edition, 2016). “Grano” is equivalent to the word “grain”, with all its meanings in English, but it can also have other meanings such as bean or even pimple. “Mudez” is muteness, and in the title poem it refers mostly to what’s left unsaid amid what’s spoken, “the bits of muteness in your words.” In relation to the collection, it evokes silence about one’s sexuality, a silence de Jesús has broken, being one of the first Cuban writers to deal overtly with queer themes when that window cracked open in the 1990s. It also alludes to the fact that, although he is known predominantly as a prose writer, he has been quietly writing poetry over the years. I would translate the title as “Silent Syllables.”

Translation challenges for “Art of the Hunt” begin with the first two lines: Lo importante no es el blanco, sino el flechazo / —asegura el cazador que atravesó, certero, al jabalí. The words “flechazo” and “atravesó” recur throughout the poem. “Flecha” is arrow, related to the antique English verb “to fletch” and the occupation “fletcher,” arrow maker. The suffix “azo” can be applied to nouns as an intensifier or to verbs (particularly verbs of violent action) to describe their result. So it’s the flight of the arrow, but more specifically it’s the wound it inflicts. English has no such suffix and no such word. “Atrevesar” means to traverse, cross, go through, break through. “Certero” is accurate, certain, sure. So, word for word, the meaning is something like “The important thing is not the target but the flight and the wound produced by the arrow, asserts the hunter who went through, accurately, the boar.”

In a few experiments, the words “archer” and “flight” came and went. Flight and “flecha” are etymologically related, as are “archer” and “arco,” bow, but I needed these elsewhere in the poem. Finally, I chose “shot” for “flechazo,” “pierced” for “atravesó,” and “found and pierced” for a staccato rhythm resembling “atravesó.” This helped to convey the accuracy of the shot as well as the aiming that’s part of “flechazo.” “Pierced” adds some violence that’s not contained in “atravesó” all by itself, but that is implied by “flechazo.” And I had to add an “arrow” to the second line to convey what kind of weapon and shot were being described. So, finally: “What matters isn’t the target, but the shot,” / says the hunter whose arrow found and pierced the boar.

I hope it works.