Poem-A-Day: The Translator's Dilemma by Ann Lauterbach

The Translator's Dilemma by Ann Lauterbach   To foretell an ordinary mission, with fewer words. With fewer, more ordinary, words.  Words of one syllable, for example.  For example: step and sleeve. These are two favorites, among many.  Many can be found if I look closely.  But even if I look closely, surely a word is not necessarily here, in the foreground.  I see an edge of a paper, I see orange.  I see words and I see things. An old story,  nothing to foretell the ordinary mission.  I see "her winter" and I see  And even the Romans fear her by now. Are these words in translation or barriers to translation?  I see John and an open book, open to a day in August. I am feeling defeated among these sights, as if I will never find either sleeve or step. These ordinary pleasurable words, attached to ordinary pleasurable things, as if to find them is to say I am announcing criteria. Step, sleeve,  you are invited to come up and be within ordinary necessities. Staircase. Coat.          Copyright © 2013 by Ann Lauterbach. Used with permission of the author.   About This Poem "'Translation' here refers to the essential motion, or action, between sight, objects, and words, as well as the more common idea of language into language; also, or maybe in particular, the dilemmas of interpretation and choice. (The line in italics is from the Greek poet C.P. Cavafy, translated by Daniel Mendelsohn.) The idea of the ordinary interests me in relation to a poetics of necessity, which is in turn connected to my long-standing delight in what George Oppen called 'small nouns.'"     --Ann Lauterbach Most Recent Book by Lauterbach Under the Sign (Penguin Books, 2013) September 23, 2013   Ann Lauterbach is the author of several poetry collections, including Under the Sign (Penguin Books, 2013) and Or to Begin Again (Penguin Books, 2009). She teaches at Bard College, where she has been co-chair of writing in the Milton Avery School of the Arts since 1991.  Related Poems Poem by James Schuyler Etymological Dirge by Marianne Moore I Am Much Too Alone in This World, Yet Not Alone by Rainer Maria Rilke Poem-A-Day Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-A-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Browse the  Poem-A-Day Archive.         Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.

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