Jesús Rodriguez
Primeros Poemas a un Colegio
Parece imposible admitir
que en el sitio del dolor pudieras algún día
observar toda su hermosura.
Allí donde te convenciste
de que la inutilidad era tu único don
reconocible, donde localizaste
para siempre tu fracaso.
En el lugar donde creciste estás ahora
y contemplas la disminuida
Extensión de tu infancia,
Tu extraviada maravilla.
Piensas
que tanta convicción en el dolor
– que habías entendido
como el más certero resumen de esos días –
no era tan necesaria ni tan verdadera
y que el colegio, puesto a la venta
y acosado por una desfigurada periferia,
empieza a padecer lo que tú ya padeciste.
Pero a pesar de todo,
no te atreves a traicionar de golpe
tu más querida y prolongada orfandad.
Es extraño que la acacia de patio muera
y que una buganvilia en flor la esté velando.
– Ramon Cote Baibar
Days of School
It seems impossible to admit
that place of pain you could one day
admire your precious presence
Over there were you convinced
that the uselessness was so unique,
recognizable were you localized
for you always, you and your failures
In the place where you blossomed is now
and view the decrease in value
Extension of your childhood
Your extraordinary beauty
You would think that
Such pain in conviction
That you had
Like the most accurate summary of those days
It wasn't too necessary or very true
And that the school put up for sale
And stalked for a deformed preference
To start to endure what you asked for
But to weigh it all out
Don’t even try to betray the pain
The thing you wanted the most, and an extended orphanage
It’s strange to see the tree die
And one spiny vine on the flower tried to stay up
–Translated from Spanish by Jesús Rodriguez
First days of school
Sometimes there things we won't admit
The location or irony despair
Could one day reminisce it’s beauty of a view
In this place you were manipulated
That a place labeled as pointless use to be so unique
Easy to recognize
And that the school put up for sale
Watched from afar
You got what you asked for
In order to even the plain
Don’t try to leave behind the pain
That you used to have
Trying to reminisce the old
Too good to be true
The past is getting sold away
Watching from afar
Rethinking your actions
To balance it all out
Trying to leave the pain in the past
It’s strange to see the things you love drift apart
Spines on a tree
–Translated from Spanish by Jesús Rodriguez
Translator’s Statement
Ramon Cote Baraibar, the author of my poem, is from Cucata, Colombia. He is a well known artist in that area and has won seven awards from writing poems. He has also written multiple poems that were included in his books. . Baraibar uses nostalgic emotion and seems to be about events that happened to him in the past to be able to express himself. This nostalgic emotion varies throughout the poems.
The poem is called “First poems back to school”. In this poem, Ramon is trying to describe feelings people may have when they went to school, or possibly just his own when he went to school. This poem could be seen as a sad and nostalgic poem due to the frequent usage of the word pain in multiple phrases. Towards the beginning of the poem it has that feel, but when you're reaching the end it starts to feel different. At the beginning it sounds like he is just talking about his bad experience in school, but in the end it sounds like he is reminiscing about it. Some of the features of the poem that would lead to that analysis would be when Ramon says, “don’t you dare suddenly betray your dearest and longest abandonment.” This phrase is very powerful, his abandonment signifies the moment of him leaving the school behind, graduating.
I wanted to have a sad feel that could be felt throughout the whole poem. I wanted to have some phrases be very similar to the original poem, but change one or two words that shift how a person would interpret that phrase. That interpretation could be a happy one where the reader feels like that poem feels happy, or the opposite. I also did not want to go on the literal translation route, I wanted to use words that could be similar to the original. I also wanted each translation to have different rhythms. This consists of taking and adding words to a phrase, which is something I did a lot because I felt it was the most effective way to be able to change the rhythm in the poem without changing the meaning of it too much. In my two features I focused on two words, muera and hermosura, which in this poem's context mean died and beauty. I chose these words because for me personally there is a huge difference in those words, meaning that I could be able to make two poems about the same topic with a whole different feel.
There were some challenges that I faced when making these translations, but they were not that major. One of those challenges was word choice. It was hard sometimes to figure out what word to use that would have a different emotional feel but at the same time have the same meaning. I think I tried to do this too much which ultimately just ended overcomplicating the process as a whole. I think a good poem has to have some sort of rhythm, whether it's the same amount of syllables in each line or if every other line rhymes. When I made my translation, I made sure that when making it, the reader could have a good pace when reading it. These translations made me realize that my heritage language has so many different ways to express yourself.
Personally, I thought it was pretty cool to interview my dad. It was interesting to see someone else's perspective on this topic, especially someone who has not been focusing specifically on this topic of my heritage language. I wanted to see the way he views the topic and questions that were differ from the way I would have viewed them. It also helped that he is from a country that does not speak English because I can see how he feels and thinks about the Spanish language, and also I could compare those thoughts and feelings to mine on how I would feel about English, which is my primary language. I wanted to make the poem talk about my language as well as personal experience as well.
I learned that me and my dad both see how language connects to someone's identity similarly. We both have very strong opinions about the loss of a language and how it won't just impact the people who speak that language, but also the world. I found his responses very intriguing and detailed to the extent where I wanted to talk to him more about it after the interview. I wanted to connect my poem to some moments that happened in real life. An example is when I mention people asking me if I speak Dominican, and I say no I speak Spanish. This has happened to me in real life. Which is why I wanted to include this into my poem. My poem explains my relation with my heritage language because it shows where my language comes from, and the kind of culture it comes from, because there are many different hispanic cultures that can influence how one interprets Spanish.
Work Cited
Baraibar, Ramon Cote. “Primeros Poemas a un Colegio.” POETRY INTERNATIONAL, Ramon Cote Baraibar, 2008, https://www.poetryinternational.com/en/poets-poems/poems/poem/103-12656_FIRST-POEMS-TO-A-SCHOOL#lang-en.