A SHOW
You may see her
but not touch her
listen to her undulating hips
crave for her belly-button
and hope she lands flop on you lap
but she won´t
there’s glittering and sparkling,
the veils that she unveils
(mind you, not all all like removing the scales of a dragon
or plucking a hen)
her whispers, giggles, jewels
wax and wane
Yet don’t insects dance?
Could this girl be a mantis?
Or is she just an expert
hypnotist?
Cymbals, ear-rings, bracelets
to create suspense,
you may wonder and crave
but she won’t
Amparo Arrospide (Argentina) is a Spanish poet and translator. She has published seven poetry collections, Mosaicos bajo la hiedra, Alucinación en dos actos algunos poemas, Pañuelos de usar y tirar, Presencia en el Misterio, En el Oido del Viento, Hormigas en Diáspora and Jaccuzzi, as well as poems, short stories and articles on literary and film criticism in anthologies and in both national and foreign magazines.
She has received numerous awards. Editor’s Note: see also Poetry, National Literature Prize 2018, Francisca Aguirre, Translated from Spanish by Amparo Arróspide & Robin Ouzman Hislop
Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times ; his publications include
All the Babble of the Souk , Cartoon Molecules and Next Arrivals, collected 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)
Audio Textual
The Hunter. Audio Text Poem by Amparo Arróspide Read by Robin Ouzman Hislop
The Hunter
(Villanelle)
Fear, a throbbing fear, as fiercely white
as the forest snow I roam while all sleep,
And over my tracking boots there was moonlight
Over my drunken steps, only her orbit
As white as anguished snow and the forked path
to the castle where my fate had been decreed:
“You will bring me her heart”
And looked at the moving distaff turn
–her face I couldn´t see, perhaps abominable–
And over my tracking boots there was moonlight
Over my drunken steps, only her orbit
How pale the child was, her heart in throbbing fear
As snow melted away for wolves and dens,
The forest snow I roam while all sleep,
And over my defeat now only moonlight
And over my drunken steps, only her orbit
Amparo Arróspide
Amparo Arrospide (Argentina) is a Spanish poet and translator. She has published seven poetry collections, Mosaicos bajo la hiedra, Alucinación en dos actos algunos poemas, Pañuelos de usar y tirar, Presencia en el Misterio, En el Oido del Viento, Hormigas en Diáspora and Jaccuzzi, as well as poems, short stories and articles on literary and film criticism in anthologies and in both national and foreign magazines.
She has received numerous awards. Editor’s Note: see also Poetry, National Literature Prize 2018, Francisca Aguirre, Translated from Spanish by Amparo Arróspide & Robin Ouzman Hislop
Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times ; his publications include
All the Babble of the Souk , Cartoon Molecules and Next Arrivals, collected 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)
As Empires. Audio Text Poem by Robin Ouzman Hislop
as our planet hurtles through (hurtles hurtles hurtles) the aftermath of a super nova (super nova super nova super nova) mid-stream – beyond the void faster – void faster than entangled space – as stars go out as stars go out as stars go out as stars go out world wide world wide on our daily media show we chat to each other as if we were in the know fine tuned to dystopia in our quantification of atomic seconds seconds seconds seconds seconds seconds does anybody know – does anybody know what we are from before - before before before in our new normal normalcy normally normal in our new normal normalcy normally normal with our daily dance with death on the doorstep with our daily dance with death on the doorstep as sudden as a theatre's curtain falls or calls for a change of costume (calls calls calls) & nothing more that this isn't the war to end all wars at least not yet not yet not yet not yet just the plague regularly as empires fall regularly regularly regularly regularly
Robin Ouzman Hislop is on line Editor at Poetry Life & Times at Artvilla.com. His numerous appearances include Cold Mountain Review (Appalachian University, N.Carolina), The Honest Ulsterman, Cratera No 3 and Aquillrelle’s Best. His publications are collected poems All the Babble of the Souk, Cartoon Molecules, Next Arrivals & Moon Selected Audio Textual Poems. A translation from Spanish of poems by Guadalupe Grande Key of Mist and Carmen Crespo Tesserae, the award winning (X111 Premio César Simón De Poesía), in November 2017 these works were presented in a live performance at The International Writer’s Conference hosted by the University of Leeds. UK. A forthcoming publication of collected poems Off the Menu is expected in 2020
You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)
Hidden Variable. Audio Text Poem by Robin Ouzman Hislop
when it's off why even bother i'm all done it's just another it's not on in what's come & u can in what's well wonder what's gone well well well wrong a song wants to come on but it's never to keep not what fits bundle to heap only a bit but got u what u ask through & through words must pass an alliterative stash first & last in onomatepoeic crash for a poem a mere backlash to be born mush and mash beyond the seventh wonder in zenith come on soon the mirage cometh in a swoon no doubt about off's not on all's in rout what's gone wrong we had thieved a bitty song to be believed starts off along i'm all done put it away in what's come for another day poem gone astray it's a play come what may the talkie talk it's off off or blackboard chalk just as well stork & baby but can't tell drive me crazy in fucking hell that's to begin off off off can anyone say cloud into day a poem's itness is its it?
Robin Ouzman Hislop is on line Editor at Poetry Life & Times at Artvilla.com. His numerous appearances include Cold Mountain Review (Appalachian University, N.Carolina), The Honest Ulsterman, Cratera No 3 and Aquillrelle’s Best. His publications are collected poems All the Babble of the Souk, Cartoon Molecules, Next Arrivals & Moon Selected Audio Textual Poems. A translation from Spanish of poems by Guadalupe Grande Key of Mist and Carmen Crespo Tesserae, the award winning (X111 Premio César Simón De Poesía), in November 2017 these works were presented in a live performance at The International Writer’s Conference hosted by the University of Leeds. UK. A forthcoming publication of collected poems Off the Menu is expected in 2020
You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)
Dissonance after Mallarme. An Audio Textual Poem by Robin Ouzman Hislop
in the me hit the in the me hit the moonlight through the pines moonlight through the pines moonlight through the pines road jack a boat to pines on road jack a boat to pines on road jack a boat to pines on ````````````````````````road jack a boat to pines on cmon everybody `````````````````````````````````````````yes we red sails knock yes we red sails knock yes we red sails knock yes we red sails knock red sails in the sunset red sails in the sunset red sails in the sunset red sails in the sunset `````````````````````````````````````````knocking on yes bye no hit the road jack bananas cmon everybody cmon everybody cmon everybody cmon on everybody cry bye on a slow boat to china cry bye on a slow boat to china slow china slow china slow china slow china bye bye blackbird bye bye blackbird bye bye blackbird bye bye blackbird me heaven's door me heaven's door me heaven's door me heaven's door `````````````` yes we have no bananas````````````````````yes we have no bananas yes we have no bananas yes we have no bananas knocking moonlight knock knock knocking knock knock knocking knock knock knocking knock knock knocking through the blackbird on through the blackbird on through the blackbird on through the blackbird on through the blackbird on through the blackbird on heaven's door heaven's door heaven's door in the me hit the in the me hit the in the me hit the in the me hit the in the me hit the smoke gets in your eyes ` smoke gets in your eyes smoke gets in your eyes smoke gets in your eyes
Robin Ouzman Hislop is on line Editor at Poetry Life & Times at Artvilla.com. His numerous appearances include Cold Mountain Review (Appalachian University, N.Carolina), The Honest Ulsterman, Cratera No 3 and Aquillrelle’s Best. His publications are collected poems All the Babble of the Souk, Cartoon Molecules, Next Arrivals & Moon Selected Audio Textual Poems. A translation from Spanish of poems by Guadalupe Grande Key of Mist and Carmen Crespo Tesserae, the award winning (X111 Premio César Simón De Poesía), in November 2017 these works were presented in a live performance at The International Writer’s Conference hosted by the University of Leeds. UK. A forthcoming publication of collected poems Off the Menu is expected in 2020
You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)
After the Cave the Comet. An Audio Textual Poem by Robin Ouzman Hislop
autumnal sludge trudge mush trudge mush dear ape sweet ape good ape O homo rapiens beautylovedeath rhapsody in blue minor the trees stark & bare don't care mush trudge sludge mush trudge sludge swing low sweet swing low sweet coming for to coming for to depending on where of kith of kin of kinship dear ape beauty ape love ape death gape in the dark void sing beautylovedeath beautylovedeath beautylovedeath deathbeautylove deathbeautylove deathbeautylove & so on in a hole to fall in fall in fall in falling falling falling O O O dear ape time closing the gap the long trek back to the track the track the track ancestor of the comet where walls tremble back & bones stack in the black in the black in the black where echoes distort the answer what stays what does not leave in tunnels of light in tunnels of dark that cross & intercede sculptured in the rock the body on a rack where words crack as sound surfaces on the surf surf surf surf surf
Robin Ouzman Hislop is on line Editor at Poetry Life & Times at Artvilla.com. His numerous appearances include Cold Mountain Review (Appalachian University, N.Carolina), The Honest Ulsterman, Cratera No 3 and Aquillrelle’s Best. His publications are collected poems All the Babble of the Souk, Cartoon Molecules, Next Arrivals & Moon Selected Audio Textual Poems. A translation from Spanish of poems by Guadalupe Grande Key of Mist and Carmen Crespo Tesserae, the award winning (X111 Premio César Simón De Poesía), in November 2017 these works were presented in a live performance at The International Writer’s Conference hosted by the University of Leeds. UK. A forthcoming publication of collected poems Off the Menu is expected in 2020
You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)
Anthropocene. Audio Textual Poem by Robin Ouzman Hislop
Anthropocene
get on with life in whatever hapless fate befalls us in this evanescent scenario of existence though our whatever stance may be absurd nevertheless grasp with final strength at the word sign of life in what's been left as the millennium tilts beyond the controle we can circumstantiate there are those who believe we can be uploaded into a cloud eternal information ether & the planet will slip away as we all become timeless satellites in infinite space so let the planet be consumed by the flames of hell we're gonna be transported into a silicon heaven even if we happen to be no more than a cartoon simulation the cosmic joke to escape extinction the last gnostic hope of salvation from the failed demi urge creation meanwhile we have surveillance capitalism the greed of corporations as super powers wage wars of economy as if should this anthropocentric creature quit the planet life won't go on but it will & it won't be uploaded in a cloud but simply create new cultural non human life forms of communication where hopefully animal life won't be bred for daily slaughter to feed our rapacious stomachs in the name of the economy
Robin Ouzman Hislop is on line Editor at Poetry Life & Times at Artvilla.com. His numerous appearances include Cold Mountain Review (Appalachian University, N.Carolina), The Honest Ulsterman, Cratera No 3 and Aquillrelle’s Best. His publications are collected poems All the Babble of the Souk, Cartoon Molecules, Next Arrivals & Moon Selected Audio Textual Poems. A translation from Spanish of poems by Guadalupe Grande Key of Mist and Carmen Crespo Tesserae, the award winning (X111 Premio César Simón De Poesía), in November 2017 these works were presented in a live performance at The International Writer’s Conference hosted by the University of Leeds. UK. A forthcoming publication of collected poems Off the Menu is expected in 2020
You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)
Yahun. Audio Textual Poem by Robin Ouzman Hislop
all these years on
& i've given up on reflections
such as the origins of human madness
the limits of what we are beyond our controle
& suddenly as often happens nowadays
i flashback to a dangerous rushing stream
tumbling & cold i remember
the water is green white deep
a slither of a stripped tree trunk straddles
the sheer sided banks
a few strides & a skip
to cross which all in the bleak grey stone village
must old or young strong weak or sick
to enter onto its sparse barren ground
i am alone i see no one
even the tree spar looks slippery shiny
bent with an undersway to the tug of the flow
a fatal slip & i'm gone i could go on
but i cross
a few strides & a skip
i come to the first stone dwelling place
the ground is hard & arid i pass the front dyke space
to enter without a door
the burnt earthen floor room in its dim half light
i don't remember how
there's what looks like a built up large sink
made of stone & shingle & in it half submerged
in clear cold water small white turnips
it's his only fare we stare at each other
he is tall thin gaunt with long white hair & beard
clad in a brown home spun gown & cord sandals
he goes to the sink & offers me a soaked turnip
is this me in another life time could i live
this life day in day out
tonight i will sleep out for i cannot stay
we have not spoken a word
i eat the turnip his only nourishment
& leave as suddenly as i came to a memory
which now hinges on a dream as though
a desert wind should move a dune where
you wake to find what you left behind is beyond you still
Robin Ouzman Hislop is on line Editor at Poetry Life & Times at Artvilla.com. His numerous appearances include Cold Mountain Review (Appalachian University, N.Carolina), The Honest Ulsterman, Cratera No 3 and Aquillrelle’s Best. His publications are collected poems All the Babble of the Souk, Cartoon Molecules, Next Arrivals & Moon Selected Audio Textual Poems. A translation from Spanish of poems by Guadalupe Grande Key of Mist and Carmen Crespo Tesserae, the award winning (X111 Premio César Simón De Poesía), in November 2017 these works were presented in a live performance at The International Writer’s Conference hosted by the University of Leeds. UK. A forthcoming publication of collected poems Off the Menu is expected in 2020
You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)
Missing Link An AudioTextual Poem by Robin Ouzman Hislop
so far up to now what comes after after question what comes after after answer recognition of an intention take it or leave it an object of thought in word & image to a certain extent on the vertigo edge of vortex up front after logical preambles on proof of origins lead nowhere in particular or general come to that it may be said do not begin in the begin but in the 'medias res' slaughter the insects the wild wandering albatross the elephants & the children too back to normal everyone sing along it's all a game of power in the end for everyone right or wrong it's an age of controle freak of totalitarian double speak on the wrecking light unfolds the millennium in a race to get to the next word to get it heard by might & right before we're switched off like the radio a danse macabre of marionettes after all that's gone before nothing's left of us at all but echoes with no promise of return but our extinction on that precipice the vertigo vortex trembles millennium titling outward bound but bound to the rock jailhouse around the clock in the billionaire grab market racket packet the power of money meanwhile back at the ranch nature in freefall all creatures great & small we arbitrate but it's too too late to reciprocate circumstantiate
Robin Ouzman Hislop is on line Editor at Poetry Life & Times at Artvilla.com. His numerous appearances include Cold Mountain Review (Appalachian University, N.Carolina), The Honest Ulsterman, Cratera No 3 and Aquillrelle’s Best. His publications are collected poems All the Babble of the Souk, Cartoon Molecules, Next Arrivals & Moon Selected Audio Textual Poems. A translation from Spanish of poems by Guadalupe Grande Key of Mist and Carmen Crespo Tesserae, the award winning (X111 Premio César Simón De Poesía), in November 2017 these works were presented in a live performance at The International Writer’s Conference hosted by the University of Leeds. UK. A forthcoming publication of collected poems Off the Menu is expected in 2020
You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)
Can’t all poets? A poem by Amparo Arróspide Translated from Spanish, Audio Robin Ouzman Hislop
* A poem by Amparo Arróspide, from “En el oído del viento” (Baile del Sol, 2016). Hers and Robin Ouzman´s translation.
***
Can’t all poets
get a PhD in synesthesia
by the University of Columba in New York?
Can´t they harvest medallions under the moon?
Can´t they work as professors of Punic Sciences?
As kindergarten teachers, can´t they work?
Can´t they afford to pay for
their third self-published volume?
Can´t all poets live on air?
Can’t they rummage, deconstruct , snoop
build for themselves a submerged house
inhabit a crystal palace?
Can´t they repeat over and over the unsaid
incite questions of ethical and aesthetic weight
dismantle and fragment reality?
Can´t they translate their 14th century Chinese
concubine colleagues?
Can´t they receive writing
from a yearning and swift
void?
From a primordial nothingness?
Can´t they mortgage their crystal palace
their submerged house?
Can´t they rebelliously peddle little stars?
Can´t all poor poets steal books?
Can´t they read so
the complete works by Samuel and Ezra and John
by Juana Inés, Alejandra and Gabriela
by Anne and Margaret and Stevie
by Wallace and Edgar and Charles
by Arthur and Paul and Vladimir
by Dulce and Marina and Marosa?
And etcetera and etcetera and etcetera and etcetera?
Can´t all poets
add more beauty to beauty
and more horror to horror?
Can´t they draw maps and routes
of the invisible, futuristic city
foretold by their dreams?
Can´t they pursue the intangible
Move towards permanence
so that a poem
becomes a closed and completed vehicle
to treasure a present without behind or beyond?
Can’t they unfold and transmigrate
can’t they achieve mindfulness
Can´t they stammer forever
into everlasting silence?
**
¿Todos los poetas no pueden
obtener un doctorado en sinestesia
por la universidad de Columba en Nueva York?
¿Cosechar medallones bajo la luna?
¿Trabajar de catedráticos de ciencias púnicas
trabajar de maestras jardineras?
¿Trabajar?
¿No pueden costearse la tercera autoedición?
¿Vivir del aire?
¿No pueden hurgar, deconstruir, fisgonear
construirse una casa sumergida
habitar un palacio de cristal?
¿Reiterar una y otra vez lo no dicho
incitar preguntas de peso ético y estético
desarticular y fragmentar la realidad?
¿Traducir a concubinas chinas del siglo XIV?
¿No pueden recibir la escritura desde un vacío originario
anhelante y veloz?
¿Hipotecar palacio y casa sumergida,
traficar estrellitas, rebelarse?
¿Robar libros por pobres?
¿Leer así
a Samuel a Ezra a John
a Juana Inés a Alejandra a Gabriela
y a Joyce a Anne a Margaret
a Wallace a Edgar a Charles
a Arthur a Paul, Vladimir
a Marina a Dulce a Marosa?
¿Y a etcétera y etcétera y etcétera y etcétera?
¿No pueden
agregar más belleza a la belleza
y al horror, más horror?
¿Trazar mapas y rutas
de la ciudad invisible, futurista
que sus sueños predicen?
¿Acosar lo inapresable, moverse
en seguimiento de lo fijo, el poema
como vehículo cerrado y concluso
para atesorar un presente sin detrás ni más allá?
¿No pueden desdoblarse, transmutarse
no pueden extrañarse, balbucearse
y enmudecer al fin?
*
Amparo Arróspide (from En el oído del viento (Baile del Sol, 2016)
Amparo Arrospide (Argentina) is a Spanish poet and translator. She has published seven poetry collections, Mosaicos bajo la hiedra, Alucinación en dos actos algunos poemas, Pañuelos de usar y tirar, Presencia en el Misterio, En el Oido del Viento, Hormigas en Diáspora and Jaccuzzi, as well as poems, short stories and articles on literary and film criticism in anthologies and in both national and foreign magazines.
She has received numerous awards. Editor’s Note: see also Poetry, National Literature Prize 2018, Francisca Aguirre, Translated from Spanish by Amparo Arróspide & Robin Ouzman Hislop
Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times ; his publications include
All the Babble of the Souk , Cartoon Molecules and Next Arrivals, collected 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)