Alberto Estima de Oliveira — O Diálogo do Silêncio / The Dialogue of Silence 7

Nossa, mais um poema traiçoeiro, incrivelmente difícil de traduzir para inglês.

I can see in my mind's eye what this poem's describing: two overlapping images, one of a DMZ-like area and one of either 南灣 Lago Nam Van or 西灣 Lago Sai Van in Macau. It's unlikely that it's what Estima de Oliveira had in mind, but it's an intriguing juxtaposition, and it's this ability to conjure up reader/listener-specific pictures and emotions that keeps me coming back to poetry, especially poetry in translation.

Both of these lakes were once open to the Pearl River Delta as part of the 大灣 Baía da Praia Grande before being closed off in the early '90s, when the bay was infilled to provide land for new development. I never had the good fortune to see the Praia Grande in its original state, but vestiges of its pedestrian curvature and its attendant charms remain, especially along Avenda da República. You can't look out to sea from there, only Sai Van, but it's still a very pleasant stroll.

My next post be written from Japan. It's absolutely incredible that I can even write that sentence.

Até, caro leitor/a.


DAS

-----

7

entre luzes
um lago metálico

é mar de barro

    daqui
    o arame farpado
    
    do outro

    o outro lado.

 

-----

7

between the lights
a metallic lake

is a sea of mud

    on this side
    barbed wire

    on the other

    the other side.

 

 

"A career with the spaceship pays good, and the benefits kill too."

Your humble corpse has recently taken a job as a union organizer. I don't talk much about personal shit here anymore, unlike my early (and prolific) days of blogging. I've been content with this blog being a translation/occasional metal review outlet for the past decade or so, but now I'm excited about helping working folks build power, and I want to talk about that, too.

Keen eyes might recognize this post's title as coming from a YTCracker song. That dude's interest in cryptocurrency is dumb as fuck (crypto is a scam, and anyone who says otherwise is trying to sell you shit, and by shit I mean their worthless crypto investments), but goddamn, he still spits quality nerdcore rhymes, and "Bitcoin Baron" is a banger even if it's an anthem for suckers. Just assume that the titular spaceship in this post is a union job, and you're good.

Don't buy cryptocurrency. Unionize your job. Stick with your friends and coworkers. Don't let your boss convince you that they're on your side.

Stay awake. Coffee, energy drinks, or expired Surge all do the trick. Just don't let your boss, or someone else's, tell you that you owe them shit, because you don't. They exist because of your work, not the other way around. You're the one sitting up late in a computer lab, server room, or data center, making sure shit happens; your boss can't do what you're doing. You know that even more than I do. I wish I'd had a union when I was a labbie, or a call center chump. We all deserve better lives.

If you want to organize a union where you work, hit me up, or contact the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee.

If you want to give all this shit some thought, please do. I've been known to kick back. You should, too. That's where the good thinking is at.

DAS

Alberto Estima de Oliveira — O Diálogo do Silêncio / The Dialogue of Silence 6

For such short poems, these are hard to translate. I'm not very happy with my last two translations.

I almost left "lorcha" in the English version, because it's not necessarily clear that "junk" refers to the kind of Chinese ship. Now you know.


6

sob a lorcha
deslizam lágrimas

    caminhos da foz
    
    páginas
    líquidas
    de rocha.


-----

6

tears slip
beneath the junk

    on their way to the estuary

    liquid
    pages
    of stone

Alberto Estima de Oliveira — O Diálogo do Silêncio / The Dialogue of Silence 5

5

solta-se o voo

     gaivota

na tarde
     branca
     manhã

deslizante
junto ao mar.


-----

5

flying free

    seagull

in the afternoon
    white
    morning

gliding
along the sea.

Alberto Estima de Oliveira — O Diálogo do Silêncio / The Dialogue of Silence 4

4

tinha o silêncio
nas asas
quando tocou
meu destino
voava desamparada
sem navio
onde abordar

pobre gaivota
sem jeito
sem fraga
onde morar

tanto voou
sem descanso
que em água
se transformou
diluindo-se
no mar.


-----

4

there was silence
in its wings
when my destiny
called
it flew helplessly
without a ship
to board

poor seagull
awkward
without a crag
to dwell upon

it flew so long
without rest
that it turned
into water
diluting itself
into the sea.

千字文 / The Thousand Character Classic, part 54

形端表正

xíng duān biǎo zhēng

"proper form manifests uprightness"


形, translated here as "form," typically refers to something's physical form. I'm most familiar with it as part of 形意拳 xingyiquan, one of the Chinese martial arts I practice. It's usually called "form and intent boxing" in English.

端 commonly refers to the tip or genesis of something, like a bud on a branch, but also means "correct." Kroll's dictionary lists 端坐, to sit upright, as an example.

正 or "uprightness" is moral uprightness, of course. This line isn't simply about good posture, though it's about that, too.


微臣
史大偉

Alberto Estima de Oliveira — O Diálogo do Silêncio / The Dialogue of Silence 3

3

chegámos numa altura difícil
ao local do encontro

não havia sombras
as árvores estavam sem folhas

o outono
chegara

na praia baixa
não havia rocha
que servisse de abrigo

tinha saído do mar
tu descido da
montanha

o encontro
é quase sempre
nestas circunstâncias

utilizo estas palavras
sem muito sentido
para podermos começar
qualquer conversa
antes que chegue a noite

   então
   que pensas
   não dizes nada?

   sempre a mesma
   pergunta

   o silêncio
   foi sempre a mesma
   resposta

começámos então
o diálogo do silêncio

   dum lado
   o mar
   falava por mim
   murmurando coisas

   do outro
   a montanha
   sustenando
   a música dos vales

conversa longa pela noite adentro
gerações e gerações
de marés e ventos


-----

3

we reached a difficult point
at the meeting place

there were no shadows
the trees were leafless

autumn
had arrived

on the low beach
there were no rocks
to serve as shelter

i came out of the sea
you came down the
mountain

our meetings
are almost always
under these circumstances

i use these pointless
words
so we can start
a conversation
before night falls

    well
    what do you think
    won't you say something?

    always the same
    question

    always the same
    reply
    silence

we then began
the dialogue of silence

    on one side
    the sea
    spoke for me
    murmuring things

    on the other
    the mountain
    sustaining
    the music of the valleys

talking long into the night
lifetimes and lifetimes
of tides and winds