[lit-ideas] Re: poems - Mayakovsky
- From: "Mirembe Nantongo" <nantongo@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2005 07:50:54 +0100
The poem's title is "But Could You?" according to this site, which has it &
several other Mayakovsky poems in both Russian and English:
http://mayakovsky.com/maya/mayent.htm
Here's the translation at the site (it doesn't say who the translator is):
<><><><>
But Could You? by Vladimir Mayakovsky
I blurred at once the chart of trite routine
by splashing paint with one swift motion.
I showed upon a plate of brawny glutin
the slanting cheekbones of the ocean
Upon the scales of tinny fishes
new lips summoned, though yet mute.
But could you
play
right to the finish
a nocturne on a drainpipe flute?
<><><><>
Thanks to Julie for this one! All best, MN
----- Original Message -----
From: <JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx>
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, April 10, 2005 4:29 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] poems
>I didn't take a date to post a poem, because I couldn't decide on one. I
> just found this, though, which I had discovered years ago, in two
> translations.
> I wish I knew Russian. I *like* the first translation better -- but what
> does that mean?
>
> For some reason I never wrote down the title, but it's by Mayakovsky.
>
> "Then sousing color from the glass,
> I smudged the map of everyday;
> I showed where on the jelly dish
> the ocean's slanted cheekbones lay,
> Upon the scales of the tin fish
> I have read new lips sounding off.
> And you, could you
> play a nocturne
> upon the flute
> of an eaves trough?"
>
> "I splashed some colours from a glass
> and smeared the drab world with emotion.
> I charted on a dish of jelly
> the jutting features of the sea.
> Upon the scals of a tin fish
> I read the cells of lips still silent.
> And you, could you have played a nocturne
> with just a drainpipe for a flute?"
>
>
> Julie Krueger
> wondering if poetry can *ever* be translated
>
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