http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2007/09/the-first-poet-i-ever-read-in-english/ Thu, 12 Jan 2012 08:40:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2007/09/the-first-poet-i-ever-read-in-english/#comment-837 Rich Villar Sat, 08 Sep 2007 00:45:35 +0000 http://pf/harriet/?p=361#comment-837 When I was 10, I didn't know that the song "Guantanamera" was taken from the poetry of Jose Marti, and I didn't know the lyrics could be improvised. All I knew was that there was this old song sung by a Cuban dude in white polyester pants posing on one of my dad's 33's. When I found the poem, I just had to sing the verses. I love the second stanza the best. <i>Arte soy entre las artes,/ En los montes, monte soy.</i> On my better days, I feel that way too. From Marti's VERSOS SENCILLOS: Yo soy un hombre sincero De donde crece la palma, Y antes de morirme quiero Echar mis versos del alma. Yo vengo de todas partes, Y hacia todas partes voy: Arte soy entre las artes, En los montes, monte soy. Yo sé los nombres extraños De las yerbas y las flores, Y de mortales engaños, Y de sublimes dolores... Crazy, but I just don't have the same relationship with English. When I was 10, I didn’t know that the song “Guantanamera” was taken from the poetry of Jose Marti, and I didn’t know the lyrics could be improvised. All I knew was that there was this old song sung by a Cuban dude in white polyester pants posing on one of my dad’s 33′s.
When I found the poem, I just had to sing the verses. I love the second stanza the best. Arte soy entre las artes,/ En los montes, monte soy. On my better days, I feel that way too.
From Marti’s VERSOS SENCILLOS:
Yo soy un hombre sincero
De donde crece la palma,
Y antes de morirme quiero
Echar mis versos del alma.
Yo vengo de todas partes,
Y hacia todas partes voy:
Arte soy entre las artes,
En los montes, monte soy.
Yo sé los nombres extraños
De las yerbas y las flores,
Y de mortales engaños,
Y de sublimes dolores…
Crazy, but I just don’t have the same relationship with English.
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]]> http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2007/09/the-first-poet-i-ever-read-in-english/#comment-836 Francisco Aragón Fri, 07 Sep 2007 22:03:00 +0000 http://pf/harriet/?p=361#comment-836 What you remind me of here is that the art attracted me, early on, for reasons more visceral than intellectual. Those who reacted to his love of Tennyson perhaps don't get that part: that poets, regardless of their backgrounds, are first and foremost, seduced by sound and not sense---at the least the ones, in my view, that go on to write interesting things. My Tennyson (in English) was the Robert Duncan I read when I was 20. Spanish is another story... What you remind me of here is that the art attracted me, early on, for reasons more visceral than intellectual. Those who reacted to his love of Tennyson perhaps don’t get that part: that poets, regardless of their backgrounds, are first and foremost, seduced by sound and not sense—at the least the ones, in my view, that go on to write interesting things.
My Tennyson (in English) was the Robert Duncan I read when I was 20. Spanish is another story…
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