28 May 2013

Thom Gunn

Considering the snail, a poem by Thom Gunn translated into Spanish and shared with us by the Spanish poet Juan Manuel Romero.


CONSIDERING THE SNAIL

The snail pushes through a green
night, for the grass is heavy
with water and meets over
the bright path he makes, where rain
has darkened the earth's dark. He
moves in a wood of desire,

pale antlers barely stirring
as he hunts. I cannot tell
what power is at work, drenched there
with purpose, knowing nothing.
What is a snail's fury? All
I think is that if later

I parted the blades above
the tunnel and saw the thin
trail of broken white across
litter, I would never have
imagined the slow passion
to that deliberate progress.


PENSAR EL CARACOL

El caracol avanza a empujones
por una noche verde, pues la hierba
está cargada de agua y pone trabas
a la brillante senda que da forma,
donde la lluvia ha oscurecido
la tierra oscura.
Se desplaza en un bosque del deseo,

moviendo apenas las antenas ocres
cuando caza. No sé decir
qué fuerza le espolea a su labor,
sin saber nada, ahí empapado a posta.
¿Cómo entender la furia
del caracol? Lo único
que pienso es que si luego

no hubiera separado la hojarasca
sobre el túnel ni hubiera visto
el reguero delgado
de baba blanca y quebradiza,
no habría imaginado nunca
una pasión tan lenta
para este lánguido progreso.

(Translated by Juan Manuel Romero)


Thom Gunn (1929 –2004) fue un poeta británico nacionalizado estadounidense. Incluido en el grupo “The Movement” junto a Larkin, Davie, Jennings, Enright y Amis, su estética se alejó pronto de la reacción antivanguardista que protagonizaron estos poetas. Gunn romperá con el neoclasicismo de la poesía inglesa del momento evolucionando hacia una cierta heterodoxia underground, que lo llevaría a ser finalmente reconocido como una de las voces maestras de la literatura gay y la contracultura americana. Su extensa obra, en la que destacan títulos como Fighting Terms (1954), The Sense of Movement (1959) o The Man with Night Sweats (1992) ha recibido múltiples premios y está recogida ampliamente en las antologías inglesas y norteamericanas.


Thom Gunn (29 August 1929 – 25 April 2004), born Thomson William Gunn, was an Anglo-American poet who was praised both for his early verses in England, where he was associated with The Movement and his later poetry in America, even after moving toward a looser, free-verse style. After relocating from England to San Francisco, Gunn, who became openly gay, wrote about gay-related topics—particularly in his most famous work, The Man With Night Sweats in 1992—as well as drug use, sex, and topics related to his bohemian lifestyle. He won numerous major literary awards.

From Wikipedia.

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