Viendo en particular
la gran mujer que era esa tarde metida en su dulzura cómo se doblegaba
tierna de sí por las calles más últimas los árboles los patios
rostros como entregados a escándalos de olvido
la puta la bellísima llena de súbitas mujeres
como arrepentimientos como culpas las repartidas por el aire
llamando a la tormenta las soñaban los hombres de la mar
las inventaban por los camarotes de espaldas al océano mecidos
mujeres altas bellas negras madres disparos de su carne
tetísmas muslísimas las sufridoras de hijos pasaban por Dakar
era Dakar exactamente
los sargentos de l´armée coloniale y los estibadores cubriéndose la rabia con
el cuerpo
yvonne envuelta en llamas perseguida por jabalíes de oro
la puta la bellísima
con apenas su cuerpo mulato contra el mundo su cuerpo celebrado
conversado en borneo acariciado amado yvonne la capital de diversas
catástrofes y olvidos
escrita en las paredes de todos los alcoles
yvonne que odiaba a los franceses
por sus ojos pasaban los ciegos del mercado
las pústulas del barrio de medinnah las pústulas mundiales
caían furias tristes clausura de sus senos
Por ahora
por la ventana entraba ese crepúsculo los mástiles inmóviles en él
sobrecogidos quietos para no molestar ese crepúsculo
que entraba por el fondo del mercado hacia los mostradores
donde hombres buscaban en su vino envolviéndose
sitiados por mujeres del sur
órdenes de sus pechos como dulces alarmas
el crepúsculo anclaba en ese puerto con lentitudes peligrosas
llegando de áfrica el gran devorador
depositaba fieras de tristeza fusiles trampas falsos ébanos
crepúsculo señor
iba venía por el viejo mercado distribuyendo golpes íntimos
estupores de amor especialmente desastres de dulzura
rostros bajo del vino
que hacia la noche entraron a crecer como un desasosiego
como un olor a viejas rebuscando basuras en el puerto de Santos
y eran las once en la gloria del día alto y no sobre la gran mujer de esas
mujeres
la suave la dulzona perdida en la saliva de tanto hombre de acá
despedazada devorada ahora viejas con ojos secos como
evaporaciones de largos besos últimos
saqueos de la sombra las viejas rebuscaban
naranjas el pescado podrido sobras del espectáculo
cercanas a su polvo viejas ávidas a las puertas del dáncing
donde los marineros cambiaban mar por putas de cerveza fabulosos
oliendo a monstruos ciegos bailaban contra los senos muertos
dónde suceden estas cosas
dónde suceden estas cosas dónde van a parar los desperdicios del amor
cómo resonarán por las edades todavía
contesten nietos
crueles en su bondad
Héroes
los soles solan y los mares maran
los farmacéuticos especifican
dictan bellas recetas para el pasmo
se desayunan en su gran centímetro
a mí me toca gelmanear
hemos perdido el miedo al gran caballo
nos acontecen hachas sucesivas
y se amanece siempre en los testículos
no poca cosa es que ello suceda
vista la malbaraja del amor estos días
los mazos de catástrofes las deudas
amados sean los que odian
hijos que comen por mis hígados
y su desgracia y gracia es no ser ciegos
la gran madre caballa
el gran padre caballo
a gelmanear a gelmanear les digo
a conocer a los más bellos
los que vencieron con su gran derrota
Otras preguntas
¿a quién debería encontrar yo en el país del vino?
¿a quién encontraría qué rostros o qué rostro?
¿el ingeniero que se perdió en el mar hace cuarenta máquinas?
¿a la burra de dylan thomas?
¿tu cuerpo deseado amado inesperado? ¿qué cuerpo encontraría
consumido abrasado por la noche como una larga burra
haciendo ruido a máquinas a mar?
quién sabe cómo es eso pero hace diez siglos
leif ericson fundaba el país del vino vikingo eructador
medio bestia también fornicaba de bajo de la gloria del cielo
y ustedes miserables ocultan en un cuarto su pálido final
refugian en las sombras sus cuerpos como burras sin leche
sí
algo cambió en el mundo y tu cuerpo es extraño como cuarenta máquinas
y el ingeniero que se perdió en el mar
brilló fosforescente como leif ericson cuando hace diez siglos
clavaba a una mujer contra la tierra
y la tierra adquiría el color de sus cuerpos
y tu cuerpo era el único país donde me derrotaban
de Cólera Buey
Juan Gelman
Listen to "Other Questions" read in the original Spanish by the author:
A bull awakes one day to the realization that he's a castrated, brow-beaten ox but is then briefly abstracted from this sorrow as the morning sun gently warms his hide and lifts heady aromas from the grass; meanwhile, a man graced with human cogitation delights in gorgeous women walking through flowery plats, who fleetingly offer distraction from the general suffering that surrounds him: this ambivalent oxen attitude encompasses much of Juan Gelman's Oxen Rage. Rife with speculation and uncertainty, this is book of ruminations, written in language at times unorthodox and full of quirky coinages, often playful and paradoxical, always musical and richly imaginative. As such, Oxen Rage presents stubborn obstacles to the translator, which perhaps explains why it had remained, apart from a few brief excerpts, untranslated into any language. Moreover, to translate the entirety of this work means rendering a range of modes since this collection poses a testing ground for voices that begin to combine in a style of condensed word play, neologism, concatenating rhythms, intertextualities, surprising imagery, and a syntax that includes little or no punctuation or capitalization and few conjunctions.
Recipient of numerous awards including the most prestigious Spanish language prize, the Premio Cervantes, Gelman is Argentina's foremost contemporary poet, but ironically he has lived in exile since 1976 when a military junta instigated a "dirty war" that led to the "disappearance" of up to tens of thousands, among them his own son. All but a handful of the 20 volumes he has written since the coup were published in Spain, which has distracted some readers from the poetic legacy that he had established before his exile began. His first volume, Violín y otras cuestiones, appeared in 1956 and with it Gelman grew to be the master and promoter of the "Generation of 1960"—known for its colloquial language, its attention to everyday life, and its leftist ideology and social commentary. However, in 1962 he embarked on a period of questioning and experimentation, which culminated in this watershed volume, Oxen Rage. Originally published in Cuba in 1965, it was not finished until '68, finally appearing in Argentina in 1972,1 and, within this book, his previous poetics of a socialist-realism bent begin to be probed, gutted, even parodied, in order to test new modes of writing that have since established his reputation as an extraordinary poet.
1Editions of Cólera Buey: La Habana: La Tertulia, 1965; Buenos Aires: La rosa blindada, 1971; Obra poética, Buenos Aires: Corregidor, 1975; Buenos Aires: Seix Barral, 1994; Poesía reunida Tomo I 1956-1980, Seix Barral, 2012.
Recipient of numerous awards including the most prestigious Spanish language prize, the Premio Cervantes, Gelman is Argentina's foremost contemporary poet, but ironically he has lived in exile since 1976 when a military junta instigated a "dirty war" that led to the "disappearance" of up to tens of thousands, among them his own son. All but a handful of the 20 volumes he has written since the coup were published in Spain, which has distracted some readers from the poetic legacy that he had established before his exile began. His first volume, Violín y otras cuestiones, appeared in 1956 and with it Gelman grew to be the master and promoter of the "Generation of 1960"—known for its colloquial language, its attention to everyday life, and its leftist ideology and social commentary. However, in 1962 he embarked on a period of questioning and experimentation, which culminated in this watershed volume, Oxen Rage. Originally published in Cuba in 1965, it was not finished until '68, finally appearing in Argentina in 1972,1 and, within this book, his previous poetics of a socialist-realism bent begin to be probed, gutted, even parodied, in order to test new modes of writing that have since established his reputation as an extraordinary poet.
1Editions of Cólera Buey: La Habana: La Tertulia, 1965; Buenos Aires: La rosa blindada, 1971; Obra poética, Buenos Aires: Corregidor, 1975; Buenos Aires: Seix Barral, 1994; Poesía reunida Tomo I 1956-1980, Seix Barral, 2012.
Juan Gelman (1930- ) was born of Jewish Ukrainian parents in Buenos Aires and grew up amid a myriad of languages, acquiring a fascination for words early on in life. With the publication of Cólera buey (Oxen Rage, 1965/71), his strange blending of social engagement and wordplay expressed in a colloquial language marked an unnerving irony and poignancy that would continue to characterize his poetry, which now includes more than 20 titles. After actively participating in the movements that brought back Perón in 1973, he was sent to Europe in 1975 to work in public relations as a journalist. After the military coup of 1976, he remained in exile in Europe, denouncing human rights abuses, which by August of that year involved the personal loss of his son, Marcelo, and his pregnant daughter-in-law, who were "disappeared" during the military dictatorship. Recipient of numerous prizes including the prestigious Premio Cervantes, Gelman is considered to be one of Latin America's foremost poets. Having worked as a journalist and a translator in Argentina, Spain, France, and Italy, he is presently living in Mexico City.
Lisa Rose Bradford was born in Dayton, Ohio. She teaches Comparative Literature at the Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata and raises horses and cattle in Madariaga, Argentina. Her doctoral work was completed at the University of California at Berkeley, and since then she has edited two compendiums on translation and cultural studies, Traducción como cultura and La cultura de los géneros, as well as two U.S. poetry anthologies in Spanish, Los pájaros, por la nieve (RIL, Chile, 2010) and Usos de la imaginación: poetas latin@s en EE.UU (EUDEM, Argentina, 2008). Her poems and translations have appeared in various magazines and journals, and she has also published two volumes of Juan Gelman's verse, Between Words: Juan Gelman's Public Letter (National Translation Award, 2011) and Commentaries and Citations, with a third, Com/positions, to appear in 2012. She is presently completing, under the auspices of an NEA grant, a fourth book by Gelman, Oxen Rage.
