{"id":935,"date":"2013-05-05T10:22:37","date_gmt":"2013-05-05T14:22:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/?p=935"},"modified":"2013-04-30T10:28:27","modified_gmt":"2013-04-30T14:28:27","slug":"anne-carson-a-fragment-of-ibykos-translated-six-ways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/2013\/935\/poems\/anne-carson-a-fragment-of-ibykos-translated-six-ways\/","title":{"rendered":"Anne Carson: A Fragment of Ibykos Translated Six Ways"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Ibykos fr. 286, Poetae Melici Graeci<\/em>]<\/p>\n

In spring, on the one hand,
\nthe Kydonian apple trees,
\nbeing watered by streams of rivers
\nwhere the uncut garden of the maidens [is]
\nand vine blossoms
\nswelling
\nbeneath shady vine branches
\nbloom.
\nOn the other hand, for me
\nEros lies quiet at no season.
\nNay rather,
\nlike a Thracian north wind
\nablaze with lightning,
\nrushing from Aphrodite
\naccompanied by parching madnesses,
\nblack,
\nunastonishable,
\npowerfully,
\nright up from the bottom of my feet
\n[it] shakes my whole breathing being.<\/p>\n

[fr. 286 as \u2018Woman\u2019s Constancy\u2019 by John Donne]<\/p>\n

In woman, on the one hand,
\nthose contracts
\nbeing purposed by change and falsehood,
\nwhere lovers\u2019 images [forswear the persons that we were],
\nand true deaths
\nsleeping
\nbeneath true marriages,
\nantedate.
\nOn the other hand, me
\nthy vow hast not conquered.
\nNay rather,
\nlike that new-made Tomorrow,
\nnow disputing,
\nnow abstaining,
\naccompanied by Love and his wrath,
\ntruly,
\nnot truly,
\nif I would,
\nif I could,
\n[it] justifies my one whole lunatic escape.<\/p>\n

[fr. 286 as Bertolt Brecht\u2019s FBI file #100-67077]<\/p>\n

At a cocktail party attended by known Communists, on the one hand,
\nthe subject
\nbeing suitably paraphrased as Mr & Mrs Bert Brecht,
\nwhere ten years of exile have left their mark,
\nand beneath 5 copies of file 100-190707,
\nCharles Laughton
\nreturning to the stage as Galileo,
\nenters an elevator.
\nOn the other hand, of my name with a hyphen between Eugene and
\nFriedrich
\nthe Bureau has no record.
\nNay rather,
\nlike the name of a certain Frenchman to whom Charles Laughton might
\nsend packages,
\naccompanied by an unknown woman
\nwho spoke to an unknown man,
\nor accompanied by an unknown man
\nwho spoke to an unknown woman,
\nand in the event that all the captions are not correct,
\nplease turn to page 307.<\/p>\n

[fr. 286 as p. 47 of Endgame<\/em> by Samuel Beckett]<\/p>\n

In your kitchen, on the one hand,
\nbright corpses
\nstarting to stink of having an idea,
\nwhere one of my legs [is]
\nand beneath sooner or later
\nthe whole universe
\ndoesn\u2019t ring and won\u2019t work.
\nOn the other hand, I shouldn\u2019t think so.
\nNay rather,
\nlike a speck in the void,
\npacing to and fro,
\naccompanied by the alarm,
\nfrankly,
\nangrily,
\nimpatiently,
\nnot very convinced,
\n[it] kisses me goodbye. I\u2019m dead. (Pause).<\/p>\n

[Ibykos fr. 286 as pp. 136-37 of Conversations with Kafka<\/em> by Gustav Janouch]<\/p>\n

In the end, on the one hand, all those who sit behind us at the cash desks,
\nbeing engaged in the most destructive and hopeless rebellion there could
\never be,
\nwhere everything human [has been betrayed]
\nand
\nbeneath the burden of existence
\nstock phrases,
\nwith a gentle indefinable smile,
\narouse suspicion.
\nOn the other hand,
\none who is afraid should not go into the wood.
\nNay rather,
\nlike modern armies,
\naccompanied by lightly spoken phrases in Czech or German,
\nfearlessly,
\npatiently,
\nunfortunately,
\nagainst myself,
\nagainst my own limitations and apathy,
\nagainst this very desk and chair I\u2019m sitting in,
\nthe charge is clear: one is condemned to life not death.<\/p>\n

[fr. 286 as stops and signs from the London Underground]<\/p>\n

At the excess fare window, on the one hand, the king\u2019s bakers,
\nditching old shepherds for new elephants,
\nwhere east and west [cross north]
\nand beneath black friars forbidden from barking in church,
\nangels
\nmind the gap.
\nOn the other hand,
\na multi-ride ticket does not send me padding southwark.
\nNay rather, like the seven sisters
\ngardening in the British Museum,
\naccompanied by penalties,
\ntooting,
\nturnpiked,
\nhackneyed,
\nKentish,
\ncockfostered,
\nI am advised to expect delays all the way to the loo.<\/p>\n

[fr. 286 as pp. 17-18 of The Owner\u2019s Manual<\/em> of my new Emerson 1000W microwave oven]<\/p>\n

In hot snacks and appetisers, on the one hand, the soy, barbecue,
\nWorcestershire or steak sauce,
\nbeing sprinkled with paprika,
\nwhere a \u2018browned appearance\u2019 [is desirable]
\nand beneath the magnetron tube
\nsoggy crackers,
\nwrapped in bacon,
\ntoughen.
\nOn the other hand, a frozen pancake
\nwill not crust.
\nNay rather,
\nlike radio waves,
\nbubbling,
\nspattering,
\ndispersing their spin,
\nand IMPORTANTLY should you omit to vent the plastic wrap,
\nor flip the pieces halfway through,
\nor properly position the special microwave popcorn popper,
\n[it] will burn your nose right off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Ibykos fr. 286, Poetae Melici Graeci] In spring, on the one hand, the Kydonian apple trees, being watered by streams of rivers where the uncut garden of the maidens [is] and vine blossoms swelling beneath shady vine branches bloom. On the other hand, for me Eros lies quiet at no season. Nay rather, like a […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","category-4-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=935"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":937,"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935\/revisions\/937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}