Six Poems in Translation of the Poet Mario Meléndez Muñoz
Waiting for Perec / Esperando a Perec
I saw Whitman enter
the prairies of language
on the back of a wounded ox
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Vi a Whitman entrar
en las praderas del lenguaje
a lomo de buey herido
17
Oh that we had something of Rimbaud
even if just a leg
I saw death enter a mirrorless hotel
saw the concierge close a door to infinity
saw God spring from Rimbaud’s arm
saw death board the trolley
In the lobby I saw: Closed for mourning
I saw the police arrive, saw photographers
saw an old ambulance take away a corpse
In the ambulance I saw the naked concierge
I saw his slashed neck, saw blood
saw his eyes, those of an ox off to the slaughterhouse
saw his name written on God’s forehead
His name was Verlaine
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17
Ojalá tuviéramos algo de Rimbaud
aunque sea una pierna menos
Vi a la muerte entrar a un hotel sin espejos
Vi al conserje cerrar una puerta al infinito
Vi a Dios salir del brazo de Rimbaud
Vi a la muerte abordar el tranvía
Vi en el lobby: Cerrado por duelo
Vi llegar la policía, vi fotógrafos
Vi una vieja ambulancia llevarse un cadáver
Vi al conserje desnudo en esa ambulancia
Vi su cuello tajeado, vi sangre
Vi sus ojos de buey camino al matadero
Vi su nombre escrito en la frente de Dios
Se llamaba Verlaine
I saw the Little Prince on the flight deck
of an aircraft carrier
he seemed to be the oldest pilot
& his mission was a forewarning
of past lives
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Vi al Principito en la cubierta
de un portaviones
parecía el más viejo de los pilotos
y su misión era un anuncio
de vidas pasadas
23
I saw Cortázar chasing a Cronopio
Down the Champs-Elysees
I saw him biting another in Trevi Fountain
You act like a Fama, they screamed at him
you are an obstinate Fama
& Julio would go crazy
Then he would play the trumpet under the rain
& count dead sheep to fall asleep
At night he would look at himself in the mirror
& imitate the gestures of Charlie Parker
Raise Famas & they’ll gouge your eyes out
Raise Cronopios & they’ll follow you to the great beyond
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23
Vi a Cortázar persiguiendo un Cronopio
por los Campos Elíseos
lo vi mordiendo a otro en la Fontana di Trevi
Tienes complejo de Fama, le gritaban
eres un Fama recalcitrante
Y Julio se ponía como loco
Entonces tocaba la trompeta bajo la lluvia
y contaba ovejas muertas para dormir
De noche se miraba al espejo
e imitaba los gestos de Charlie Parker
Cría Famas y te sacarán los ojos, se decía
Cría Cronopios y te seguirán hasta el más allá
24
I saw Picasso riding a green horse
wearing a straightjacket & an African mask
His women followed him (on foot) through a salt desert
carrying his paintings on their backs & an umbrella
belonging to Matisse
The horse flaunted a strange wig
its orthopedic hooves opened on every side
frustrating Picasso who hit it with a stick
made of ash
Bored he dismounted the horse
& began to trace formless shapes on the ground
lines stolen from an impossible alphabet
Here I’ll dig God’s grave, he told himself
the worms won’t ever forgive me
& he commanded his women to slit their veins
while he painted his horse the color of eternity
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24
Vi a Picasso montado en un caballo verde
llevaba camisa de fuerza y una máscara africana
Sus mujeres lo seguían (a pie) por un desierto de sal
cargaban sus cuadros al hombro y un paraguas
de Matisse
El caballo lucía una extraña peluca
sus patas ortopédicas se abrían hacia todos lados
desesperando a Picasso que lo golpeaba con un palo
de ceniza
Aburrido bajó del caballo
y comenzó a trazar en el suelo figuras amorfas
líneas arrancadas de un alfabeto imposible
Aquí cavaré la tumba de Dios, se dijo
los gusanos jamás me perdonarán
Y ordenó a sus mujeres cortarse las venas
mientras él pintaba su caballo de eternidad
27
I saw God’s hamster
dig hole to the beyond
& run the marathon of his life
Strange beings cheered him
on along the way
The implausible dog cheered
tossing about holy water
death followed at a distance
on a wooden tricycle
Where are you going so quickly
yelled the wandering souls
To the Promised Land, he responded
measuring its pace
with an hourglass
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27
Vi al hámster de Dios
abrir un hueco al más allá
y correr el maratón de su vida
Extraños seres lo ovacionaban
en el camino
El perro inexplicable le daba ánimos
lanzando agua bendita
la muerte lo seguía a distancia
en un triciclo de palo
A dónde vas tan de prisa
le gritaban las ánimas errantes
Hacia la Tierra Prometida, respondía
cronometrando su tiempo
en un reloj de arena
Mario Meléndez Muñoz is the editor of Revista Altazor, the on-line poetry journal associated with the Vicente Huidobro Foundation. Both he and the foundation are Chilean, yet he and the journal are global. Born in 1971 in Linares, Chile, he has lived in Chile, Mexico, and Italy. He is the author of six collections of poems and has edited several anthologies of Latin American poetry in Mexico, Italy, and Chile. In 2013 he received the medal of the President of the Italian Republic, awarded by the Don Luigi di Liegro International Foundation.
Jeremy Paden is a professor of Spanish and Latin American literature at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. He writes poems in both English and Spanish and translates into and out of both. His bilingual, illustrated children's book Under the Ocelot Sun (Shadelandhouse Modern Press, 2020) won a Campoy-Ada prize for Spanish language children's literature. His most recent collections of poems are world as sacred burning heart (3: A Taos Press, 2021) and Self-Portrait as an Iguana (Valparaiso USA, 2021).