Sunday, November 16, 2003

More Poetry Outtakes

Here are a few lines composed on a windy day:

November 10th

A storm from the west
swept the streets,
wind wrestled with everyone
and the slightest particulars:
papers flying and diving
like hysterical gulls
invading the city.
Hats flew, umbrellas escaped.

The trees writhed and strained
at their roots -- desparate, mad things.
Shrill whistlings came from nowhere,
while the rushing sky
rattled panes and nerves.
Wires unhooked, and rage
became madness, eating all,
gnashing the season.

Here are the same lines after a few trips through the
Babelfish translator, from English to Spanish, French and German, then back to English:

A storm of the west
swept the roads,
the wind, with each one was fought
and the lightest details:
Papers, which are plunged to fly
and as a gulls hysterical,
that they penetrate the city.
The hats flew, the stored umbrellas.

The trees writhed and filtered
in their ready roots, constrained things.
Whistlings of the chillones came from any part,
whereas the sky, which was caught crystals
of konfuse and the nerves.
The lines separated and the fury
became the verruecktheit and ate all
and gnashing the station.

I like the "caught crystals," image. But what are "chillones," "konfuse" and "verruecktheit"? Babelfish doesn't seem to know.

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