Poems from Angel Minaya’s Collected Poems TEOREMA DE LOS LUGARES RAROS (Theorem of rare places) Translated from Spanish by Robin Ouman Hislop & Amparo Arróspide

1.
lugar es una casa para poner un codo no deja de dañar la mesa también sobre los
huesos un palo sus balances

lugar es una puerta para esconder la carga perdura en la cabeza aislada el rastrillo de la
deuda tatúa las membranas

lugar es una ventana para poner un caballo un libro alguna cosa

(i)

place is a house to place an elbow the table never leaves off hurting it´s also a stick
on the bones balance sheets

place is a door to hide the burden on an isolated head the rake of debt lingers
tattooing membranes

place is a window to place a horse a book some thing

2.

un niño pasea por las orillas del légamo se parece a mi sombra tiene miedo pero no corre
tal vez sus pies han oído el acre perfume de la ova animales suaves se agitan en el cañizal
un ciervo tendido va confundiéndose con las hojas caídas su cuello muestra linfas secretas el
sol cruje con la intensidad de la corteza columpios oxidados anticipan la ruina de los juegos
juegos solitarios donde el niño me imagina soñando con orillas recordando carroñas sin volumen
el agua verdinegra que el verano va cociendo ambos somos un sueño compartido por el otro
observados bajo las cañas por los ojos feroces de nuestra madre

a child passes silted shores seeming like my shadow he’s afraid but doesn’t run perhaps his
feet have heard the acrid perfume of the ulva soft animals tremble in reed banks a deer
lying down mingles with fallen leaves his neck revealing a secret lymph sun crackles through
intensity of bark rusty swings herald a ruination of games solitary games where I’m imagined
by the child to be dreaming of these shores a massless memory of carrion the summer’s
blackgreenish water is baking we are both a dream shared by the other watched under the
reeds by the fierce eyes of our mother

3.

Conferencia austro-húngara [apuntes]

antes de comenzar imaginemos
pensar en húngaro o escribir en alemán

alguien recoge lo que ama y lo corrige
alguien hubiera preferido someter a reconstrucción una pared escarpada
y ahora yo llevo bajo el brazo
el vínculo entre la fuerza y la risa

el caso es
de dónde procede este placer
después de qué aniquilación maduran los conceptos
por qué admiramos los átomos o la madrugada

queridos colegas
por) un agresor ha sido devorado
como) la frialdad de las madres es comparable a las máquinas zapadoras
en) lo que permanece dentro siempre resulta victorioso

en fin por) como) y en) prueban que una idea es lo más parecido a una cicatriz
o a un sueño que dura ya 51 años

en alemán los ahogados
beben hasta que les llega la muerte
en húngaro los mensajes indirectos acaban alojándose
en órganos e inervaciones habituales

buenas tardes y gracias a todos
por su aflicción

Austro-Hungarian Conference [Notes]

before we begin let us imagine
thinking in Hungarian or writing in German

someone picks up what they love and corrects it
someone would have preferred to rebuild a steep wall
and now I’m carrying under my arm
the link between strength and laughter

the case is
where does this pleasure come from
after what annihilation do concepts mature
why do we admire atoms or the dawn

dear colleagues
by) a foe has been devoured
as) the coldness of mothers is comparable to trenching machines
in) what remains inside is always victorious

hence by) as) and in) prove that an idea is the closest thing to a scar
or a dream that has already lasted for 51 years

in German the drowned
drink themselves to death
in Hungarian indirect messages end up occupying
the usual organs and innervations

good evening thank you all for listening
and thank you all for your suffering

4.

Apuntes catastróficos

contraimagen en el observador nace un estado de malestar o acantilado

contradicción la luz sobre el terraplén se degrada en movimiento

estímulos la vida es una erosión subterránea equivalente al plano inclinado de la
angustia

contragolpe un árbol despliega la tierra rota en dirección al sol blanco de la
analogía

contrapunto los dominios zoológicos se ramifican y expanden como nudos que se
persiguen

impresiones la caza y los territorios acumulan conglomerados de mapas y
desprendimientos

contrasentido un cono o pirámide de escombros pasa de la regularidad a la máxima
turbulencia

contraataque el observador es una trampa para frecuencias de lenta degradación

reducto un germen de catástrofe en favor de la excitación y el desorden

 

Catastrophic Notes

counter image a cliff state or discomfort is born in the observer

contradiction the light on the embankment degrades in movement

stimuli life is an underground erosion equivalent to the inclined plane of anguish

countercoup a tree displays broken earth towards the white sun of analogy

counterpoint zoological domains ramify their expansions pursued as knots

impressions hunting and territories accumulate clusters of maps and landslides

countermeaning the debris of a cone or pyramid goes from regularity to maximum turbulence

counterassault the observer is a trap for frequencies of slow degradation

stronghold a germ of catastrophe in favor of excitement and disorder

5.

Equivalencia en hueco

[nada] evento de la palabra que lo pronuncia [nunca] agujero o gusano de tiempo oscuro [nadie]
impensada extensión de una antinomia que se fue [nulo] valor absoluto del abandono [pérdida]
extravío en la dirección apropiada [mudez] propósito semántico del niño en silencio [se]
impersonal atavismo del aullido [cero] punto lógico del número a su saco [no] jaque a la
tercera persona oblicua [yo] identidad imaginaria de la cópula y la disyunción [negro] color
automático de las orillas en materia de movimiento [vacío] mensaje contracto del negativo de
los objetos [incógnita] conjunto dispar de soluciones y raíces antes del árbol [significado]
liquidar el poema de materia oscura

del doble tan raro
decirse no expresarse
aunque [yo] estuviera allí

 

GAP-IN EQUIVALENCE

[nothing] an event from the word that articulates it [never] a dark time or worm hole [nobody]
an unthought extension of a vanished antinomy [null] the absolute value of abandonment [loss]
a misplacement in the proper direction [muteness] the semantic intention of a child’s silence
[self] an impersonal atavistic howl [zero] the number’s logical point in its sac [not] the
oblique third person placed in check [i] imaginary identity of conjunction and disjunction
[black] the automatic color of edges in the materialisation of motion [vacuum] a message shrunk from the
negatives of photographic objects [unknown] a disparate set of solutions and roots preceding
their tree [meaning] to wipe dark matter out of the poem

by such a rare double
to tell oneself not to express oneself
even though as if [i] was there

6.

WCW 1963

amo las cosas esas cizañas que no dejan ver el mar el sabor oculto de las fresas perceptible
solo en su consumación el zorzal una danza leve en la luz amarilla

hoy una mano escribe y la otra me hace viva la muerte

en otro tiempo el día era el ascenso mis manos ayudaban a nacer palpaban el dolor y la noche
el descenso la medida variable de los huesos quebrados por la música

ahora el perro y la fiebre la oscuridad extensa donde nada tiene cura

van cayendo los ciegos los aros giran la espalda del desierto es la tortuga que sostiene el
mundo

WCW 1963

i love things those ryegrasses not letting you see the sea hidden taste of strawberries
perceptible only in their consummation a thrush a light dance in the yellow light

today one hand is writing and the other is making death alive for me

in another time a day was the ascent my hands helped to give birth they touched pain and night
the descent the variable measure of bones broken by music

Now the dog and the fever a vast darkness where nothing can be cured

the blind are falling rings are turning round the spine of the desert is the turtle supporting
the world
***

Translations from Spanish by Amparo Arróspide & Robin Ouzman Hislop

***

ANGEL MINAYA (Madrid, 1964), a Bachelor in Hispanic Philology by the Complutense University of
Madrid, was also awarded in PhD in Linguistics by the Autonomous University of Madrid.
A teacher of Literature and Language at a high school in that same Community, some of his poems
and critical reviews have been published by Nayagua literary e-zine. A few have also been
included in the anthology Voces del extremo: Poesía y desobediencia (Madrid, 2014).
Teorema de los lugares raros (Theorem of rare places) is his first published poetry collection
(El sastre de Apollinaire, Madrid, 2017).
http://www.elsastredeapollinaire.com/producto/teorema-de-los-lugares-raros/
https://www.facebook.com/angel.minayaechevarrena

 

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Amparo Arróspide (Argentina) has published five poetry collections: Presencia en el Misterio, Mosaicos bajo la hiedra, Alucinación en dos actos y algunos poemas, Pañuelos de usar y tirar and En el oído del viento, as well as poems, short stories and articles on literature and films in anthologies and international magazines. She has translated authors such as Francisca Aguirre, Javier Díaz Gil, Luis Fores and José Antonio Pamies into English, together with Robin Ouzman Hislop, who she worked with for a period as co-editor of Poetry Life and Times, at Artvilla.com a Webzine. Her translations into Spanish of Margaret Atwood (Morning in the Burned House), James Stephens (Irish Fairy Tales) and Mia Couto (Vinte e Zinco) are in the course of being published, as well as her two poetry collections Hormigas en diáspora and Jacuzzi. She takes part in festivals, recently Transforming with Poetry (Leeds) and Centro de Poesía José Hierro (Getafe).

robin-portrait-july-sotillo-2016-by-amparo

https://www.facebook.com/PoetryLifeTimes
https://www.twitter.com/PoetryLifeTimes

Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times ; at Artvilla.com his publications include

All the Babble of the Souk , Cartoon Molecules, Next Arrivals Collected Poems, and the recently published Moon Selected Audio Textual Poems, as well as translation of Guadalupe Grande´s La llave de niebla, as Key of Mist and the recently published Tesserae , a translation
of Carmen Crespo´s Teselas.

You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)