FOTO SEPIA
Así debimos de haber permanecido
con una pequeñísima imperfección que nos haría sublimes, inmarcesibles: el volado del calzón desparejo
un levísimo fruncimiento del ceño
la piel tan tersa
rivalizando con el primer durazno de estación
En algún firmamento, así somos.
La casa hermosa, el jardín pulcro
La rueda de la vida brinca, reina
la flecha de la aguja trucada, desde el vamos
pero tanto desmayabas por jugar que girabas la manivela con fruición
a sabiendas que los prodigios no eran ni de tu voz ni de tu tiempo
un mundo de abrazos y humores exangües fue tu lote
y confundiste géneros, meteoros con planetas,
derroche y derrota, tan vecinos.
Entre los pliegues vagamente celestes zurcidos de la burqa
Detrás de las escarificaciones anidan destellos de soberbia
Aquí y ahora
mi desvencijada máquina de vivir.
Q&A with Sarli E. Mercado about the 4W-International Women Collective Translation Project at UW-Madison + a poem in translation by Luisa Futoransky
At the WiT Tumblr we were delighted to receive news of The 4W-International Women Collective Translation Project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (“4W-WIT”), an initiative in which “readers, translators, and interpreters translate literary texts – particularly poetry – by writers from the Americas and Spain.” Its defining philosophy is that “the practice of collective translation is linked to our ability to make meaning together and foster collective wellbeing.”
We asked the co-leader of the project, Sarli E. Mercado from the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at UW-Madison, to fill us in a bit more about the origins of the project and about how the workshop runs:
What is 4W-WIT and how did it begin?
In 2018 Lori DiPrete Brown and I began to invite women writers and translators interested in the project to collaborate with us on creating a translation workshop in which texts, mainly by Latin American writers, would be translated collectively. 4W-WIT includes women colleagues and students from various disciplines interested in translation.
In 2019 4W-WIT received a Borghesi Mellon grant from the UW-Madison Center for the Humanities to continue organizing public events and workshops. (Our 2019-2020 Annual Report includes more information about the workshop and short videos of our sessions). Our project is growing slowly. We’ve begun to invite younger poets, writers, scholars, and translators to attend our online events and workshops. We also collaborate with the Museum of Environmental Studies at the Universidad de Guadalajara, the creator of the Premio Ciudad y Naturaleza José Emilio Pacheco, and with Meninas Cartonera Editorial and Ultramarina Cartonera in Spain.
What happens in the workshops?
4W-WIT's methodology for collective translation requires multiple perspectives and iterations and reviews by the author. It has a circular aspect since we begin the meeting by listening to the author read their work. A discussion of the content and context follows. After that, we translate the work collectively in several sessions. There is usually a final meeting with the author to discuss the final version of the translation.
Poetry International recently published one of our translations, “Juana de Arco, el portal / Joan of Arc, the Gateway,” by the Argentine poet Luisa Futoransky, a poem we chose because it relates to our experiences in confinement due to Covid-19. Thanks to our collaborator Phillipa Page in the UK, it’s been added to the archive she created of Luisa's work at Poetry International.
What plans do you have for the upcoming academic year?
We’re still preparing our fall program, but we’ll continue to work on the same projects as last year, and invite poets and translators to visit our workshops.
Click here to read 4W-WIT’s collaborative translation of Luisa Futoransky’s Juana de Arco, el portal / Joan of Arc, the Gateway on the Poetry International website.
Antes de que abandones el aire quiero que sepas que fuiste importante como el pan fresco, el arco iris, las estrellas, el color índigo y los puentes de París.
Antes de que abandones
el aire
quiero que sepas que fuiste
importante como el pan fresco
el arcoiris, las estrellas, el color índigo
y los puentes de París.
Me he besado con poetas, pintores, cineastas
empleadas, jew princesses, rateros, hippies
ingenieros, tenores, guerrilleros
en mi boca todos los caminos de la vida
es tiempo/de ocuparme de mis pies
-Luisa Futoransky
I've kissed poets, painters, film makers
working women, Jew princesses, thieves, hippies
engineers, tenors, guerrilla fighters.
in my mouth are all the paths of life
its time/to occupy myself with my feet.
