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* Goethe

José Angel Araguz Leave a comment

(Roman Elegy V – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) *

I find myself on Classic soil;

the past and present speak to me.

As I was told to, I leaf through the works of Ancients and find joy.

Through the nights, love keeps me busy at other things;

even though I am half-educated, I am twice happy.

And am I not educated when I take in the forms of a breast,

or let my hands glide down hips?

I begin to understand marble statues, I think and compare;

I see with a feeling eye, feel with a seeing hand.

And though my love steals a few hours of my day,

she gives me hours of the night in return.

We not only kiss, we talk great talks;

and when she falls asleep, I lie awake and think.

I have composed poems in her arms,

have tapped and counted out hexameters on her back.

She breathes softly when she sleeps,

and warms me with her breath.

Meanwhile, Cupid stokes the fires,

as he did for his other great poets.

***

I am on a Goethe kick these days.  It is one of those instances where I find myself getting into the work of one writer and, when I look up his sign, am endeared to them even more.  And not just because he is a Virgo like myself.  It is that he is such a Virgo.

I find myself referring to the poem above in particular when talking to people about the man.  I mean, alone, the line: “I see with a feeling eye, feel with a seeing hand” is both motto and manifesto for poets everywhere.  And couple that (ahem) with the sensuous nature of the poem, and it is quite the performance.

Ahem.

Seriously, he is famous for the line about counting out hexameters on his lady’s back – but, few realize that the man is truly keeping count.  The Virgo loves to multitask.  This whole poem – a great love poem, yes – is also an ode to the multitasking spirit.  He is in Rome reading as much as he can while on a romantic vacation.  And why else the defensive tone of, “We not only kiss, we talk…”

The bit about her being asleep and him lying awake thinking – I’ve totally been there.  A Virgo makes use of every moment to the point that they forget how to live in the moment.  I have a feeling, though, that Goethe, like me, figured out that much of what drives this spirit is restlessness.

Restlessness can be a great generator of creativity if approached the right way.  Hence the line: “though I am half-educated, I am twice happy.”  I can tell he really means what he says here, and that it is a hard-won victory.

To not only work hard but also to stop, assess, celebrate and dream – these are lessons it takes a life to learn.

***

Happy learning!

J

* the translation here is my own rendition of a more scholarly translation by Stanley Applebaum. (word to your Dover Thrift editions!)

* translation 2/3 on the friday influence

José Angel Araguz 2 Comments

(from Greguerias – Ramon Gomez de la Serna) *

Curious about the earth, the sky keeps opening and closing the clouds.

*

The hour differs throughout the stars.  In some it is yesterday, in others today, and in others centuries have passed.

*

He had a keyring so dusty, he looked like a fisherman of keys.

*

The socks tucked into the little shoes of the sleeping child wrinkle with his dreams.

***

This week The Friday Influence is proud to present the work of the Spanish poet Ramon Gomez de la Serna (1888-1963).

First, some reviews: “For me he is the great Spanish writer: the Writer, or rather, Writing…I also would have learned Spanish just to read him” (Octavio Paz).  “…the major figure of surrealism, in any country, has been Ramon” (Pablo Neruda). **

I share these quotes to show the range of influence Ramon (as he liked to be called)  had in his day.  Neruda’s Book of Questions (excerpts of which I translated last week) would not have been possible without the work of Ramon.  He wrote novels as well as stories and essays, but it is in his Greguerias that I feel his singular personality truly shines.

These sentences are packed with images and humor.  They take a little and expand it in the mind.  They do the work of haiku and aphorisms but with a distinct flavor.  I spoke last week of how a poet’s job is partly to see how much they can get away with.  In his Greguerias, Ramon gets (carried) away with himself.

Also, any writer who seriously writes about the stars after the Romantic period endears themselves to me.  Ramon’s work gave me permission to work out some single line poems of my own.  He has opened up to me what a sentence or two can offer lyric poetry.

I discovered his work two years ago by accident, working out my own ideas of prose poems.  His name came up in an essay and I made my way to his poems.  Seeing as he has stayed with me, I have decided to periodically sit down with his Greguerias and translate a few pages at a time.  If I get through the whole book in this manner, I’ll let you know.

Here’s a few more from Ramon:

The night lies there between blue eyelashes.

*

In autumn, the butterflies come out in the same red as the dry leaves, and the same wind sweeps up the one as the other.

*

After a while, the sound of the typewriter fills our thoughts with gravel.

*

Pinocchio opens books with his nose.

***

Happy gregueriando!

J

* translated by Jose Angel Araguz (word to vosotros!)

** quotes from Paz and Neruda found on Wikipedia (word to citations!)