Image of Absence
Jeannette L. Clariond | Translated by Curtis Bauer
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The bilingual poetry collection, Image of Absence, by the Mexican poet, Jeannette L. Clariond, is a bridge between the mystical and the telluric—an elegant ensemble of lyricism accentuated by its translation to English by the award winning poet, Curtis Bauer. In Image of Absence, the speaker seems to flow freely between multiple planes. Throughout the poems, the reader is presented with esthetically soothing images of nature, including fallen leaves, migrating birds, afternoon horizons, a calm sea and much more. Occasionally, this earthly yet ethereal plane is shifted toward a spiritual realm—one that is intertwined and has a tangible bond with the human body. "El mar, el mar, don de nuestra falta. Y en el pretil, el jaspeado verdor del grillo. Oh Dios, abraza este cuerpo, es mi lengua, es el fluir de mi sangre entre olivos." |
Nonetheless, the speaker seems to find solace in the absence of things as well—an absence that is woven peacefully throughout the book and can be found in "the naked wind" and "the fallen leaves". The speaker understands the importance of a new beginning. Perhaps the symbolism of a blank page which becomes a writer's refuge and rebirth—a sentiment that is faithfully captured in the English version.
The translator, Curtis Bauer, gracefully sculpts the other half of the edition with gentle and organic strokes which also give new life and meaning to Jeannette Clariond's work.
The translator, Curtis Bauer, gracefully sculpts the other half of the edition with gentle and organic strokes which also give new life and meaning to Jeannette Clariond's work.
"Lost, I watched the afternoon against the naked wind,
listened to the fallen leaves.
Empty, Emily, does the afternoon really empty?
Poetry, that absence of water, a door
that opens another, another and yet another.
Nothing entered my eyes or crossed my tongue
that was not beauty.
I took out a notebook, a sharpened pencil,
lit a candle in full light.
I went out to walk the darkened streets,
the horizon opened unhurriedly before me."
listened to the fallen leaves.
Empty, Emily, does the afternoon really empty?
Poetry, that absence of water, a door
that opens another, another and yet another.
Nothing entered my eyes or crossed my tongue
that was not beauty.
I took out a notebook, a sharpened pencil,
lit a candle in full light.
I went out to walk the darkened streets,
the horizon opened unhurriedly before me."
Jeannette L. Clariond (Chihuahua, Mexico, 1949) has won numerous awards, including the Premio Nacional de Poesía Efraín Huerta for Deserted Memory and the Premio Nacional de Poesía Gonzalo Rojas for Everything Before Nightfall. She has translated more than twenty books of poetry by American and European authors. She received a Conaculta Rockefeller Foundation grant for her translation of Charles Wright's Black Zodiac.
Curtis Bauer is the author of two poetry collections: Fence Line, which won the John Ciardi Poetry Prize, and The Real Cause for Your Absence. His translations include: Eros Is More, by Juan Antonio González Iglesias; From Behind What Landscape, by Luis Muñoz; and Baghdad and Other Poems by Jorge Gimeno. He is publisher and editor of Q Avenue Press Chapbooks and Translations Editor for Waxwing Literary Journal. He teaches Creative Writing and LIterature at Texas Tech University.
Image of Absence is a publication by The Word Works. Click here to purchase.
Curtis Bauer is the author of two poetry collections: Fence Line, which won the John Ciardi Poetry Prize, and The Real Cause for Your Absence. His translations include: Eros Is More, by Juan Antonio González Iglesias; From Behind What Landscape, by Luis Muñoz; and Baghdad and Other Poems by Jorge Gimeno. He is publisher and editor of Q Avenue Press Chapbooks and Translations Editor for Waxwing Literary Journal. He teaches Creative Writing and LIterature at Texas Tech University.
Image of Absence is a publication by The Word Works. Click here to purchase.
Reviewed by
Gerald A. Padilla 9/16/2018 |
Gerald A. Padilla (Los Angeles, CA) is founder and director of Latino Book Review, founder of Jade Publishing, founder of the Festival Internacional de Poesía Latinoamericana (FEIPOL), founder of Latin American Foundation for the Arts. He is co-author of the first children's book in Náhuatl in the U.S., Noyolkanyolkej.
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