Fuq blu
Kemm hu kbir dal-blu li wellidna?
Nistaqsik jekk hux se nkun maġenbek.
Hux se nkun imħeddla.
Hux se nkun kaħla. Jew blu.
Jekk kaħla, missni darba.
Jekk blu, missni darbtejn.
Għax naf li blu se tgħidli.
Narak tiggranfa mal-imħadda feroċi
tagħmel ħerba minna u minn dal-muskoli stirati.
Il-lożor ma llamtajthomx.
U trid tgħidli,
tixtieq tgħidli li l-lożor blu bħal-lejl.
Hekk biss nitqaddsu
piż fuq dal-lożor blu.
U r-riħa mrembla tiegħek tinfidni.
Fuq hemm
Hemm is-sema jroxxli l-istilel lewn
il-ħalib minn t’ommok fi snienek
u l-bajja tfur bir-ramel aħmar
qed tistenniena nindifnu fiha.
Hemm dil-bajja tistenniena npassuha
ħa tħoss il-għafsa sħuna tross sħiħ fuqha.
Kull meta nintelqu, smajt,
hemm il-baħar jibda jofrogħ u
jmut ftit għalik u ftit għalija.
minn L-Inventarju tal-Kamra l-Kaħla
Leanne Ellul
Listen to "On blue" read in the original Maltese by the author:
These two poems form part of Leanne Ellul’s L-Inventarju tal-Kamra l-Kaħla (The Blue Room Inventory). The poems in that collection are all “on” something (though it need not be a “thing”). In the original collection, they are organized in alphabetical order.
Translating fragments of this inventory presents particular challenges. While each poem stands on its own, its place in the collection—its position in this tally of non-things—cannot be arbitrary. And yet, that organizational principle has to be broken, the elements reordered. In translation, each element speaks differently to the whole. It also speaks differently. The poems are wrought out of allusion; their deeply personal roots only ever break the surface through the play of puns, internal rhyme, imagery that depends as much on sound as meaning. As if the subject matter, should it be brought to heel by direct reference, would be rendered trivial, a mere thing. Which is what it is not.
Translating fragments of this inventory presents particular challenges. While each poem stands on its own, its place in the collection—its position in this tally of non-things—cannot be arbitrary. And yet, that organizational principle has to be broken, the elements reordered. In translation, each element speaks differently to the whole. It also speaks differently. The poems are wrought out of allusion; their deeply personal roots only ever break the surface through the play of puns, internal rhyme, imagery that depends as much on sound as meaning. As if the subject matter, should it be brought to heel by direct reference, would be rendered trivial, a mere thing. Which is what it is not.
Leanne Ellul writes poetry and prose and has published works for both adults and children. She was named Best Emerging Author in the 2016 Malta National Book Prize, and her works for children have garnered various awards. L-Inventarju tal-Kamra l-Kaħla (The Blue Room Inventory; Merlin Publishers, 2020) was her first poetry collection. Her second collection, Bjuda (Whiteness; Aġenzija Żgħażagħ, 2022), is part of an interdisciplinary project. Her latest poetry collection is entitled Il-Manifest tas-Siġar (The Trees’ Manifest; EDE Books, 2022). Her spoken-word poetry was recently chosen for publication by adda magazine. In 2015, Ellul published her first novel for young adults, Gramma (Gram, Merlin Publishers). Her second novel for young adults, Be;n il-Kmiem (Between the Sleeves), is set to come out in the following months. Both YA novels won The Novels for Youth Literary Contest in Malta. Ellul lectures in Maltese literature and creative writing, and is active in a number of NGOs, namely Inizjamed and HELA Foundation.
Albert Gatt has translated several works of poetry and prose, including Klin u Kapriċċi Oħra by Adrian Grima (Last-Ditch Ecstasy; Midsea Books and Paperwall Publishing, 2017), Fl-Isem tal-MIssier (u tal-Iben) by Immanuel Mifsud (In the Name of the Father (and of the Son); Parthian, 2019), L-Eżodu taċ-Ċikonji by Walid Nabhan (Exodus of the Storks; Peter Owen, 2022) and Castillo by Clare Azzopardi (The Lives and Deaths of K Penza; Praspar Press, 2022). Excerpts from his translation of the modernist classic Ulied in-Nanna Venut fl-Amerka by Juann Mamo (Nanna Venut’s Children in America; 1934) have appeared in the journal CounterText. His poetry translations have appeared in several journals, including Asymptote and the Columbia Journal. He is a professor of natural language generation at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, and is affiliated with the University of Malta. His research focuses on the use of language in artificial (AI) and natural (human) systems, and on the relationship between perceptual and symbolic data.
