translation exercise(s)

    Inspired by the Impossibly Erudite John Cowan and his multilingual
translation excercises, I present the following two (count 'em 2) short poems
for you conlanging peeps to translate/interpret in your conlangs/natlangs
(translate/interpret either one or both. Have fun ;)


         Many Zeroes

The teacher rises voiceless before a class
Of pale, tight-lipped children.
The blackboard behind him as black as the sky
Light-years from the earth.

It's the silence the teacher loves,
The taste of the infinite in it.
The stars like teeth marks on children's pencils.
Listen to it, he says happily.

                    ---- Charles Simic



    Computer Map of the Early Universe

We're made of stars. The scientific team
Flashes a blue and green computer chart
Of the universe across my TV screen
To prove its theory with a work of art:
Temperature shifts translated into waves
Of color, numbers hidden in smooth lines.
"At last we have a map of ancient Time"
One scientist says, lost in a rapt gaze.
I look at the bright model they've designed,
The Big Bang's fury frozen into laws,
Pleased to see it resembles a sonnet,
A little frame of images and rhyme
That tries to glitter brighter than its flaws
And trick the truth into its starry net.

                ------ Maura Stanton



Hanuman Zhang

"the sloth is a chinese poet upsidedown" --- jack kerouac {1922-69}
--------------------------------------------------

    "There is no reason for the poet to be limited to words, and in fact the
poet is most poetic when inventing languages. Hence the concept of the poet
as 'language designer'."  - O. B. Hardison, Jr.

    "La poésie date d' aujour d'hui."  (Poetry dates from today)
    "La poésie est en jeu." (Poetry is in play)
                - Blaise Cendrars

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