I’ve been having fun trying to translate some poems by Francisco Hernández. He’s difficult because he often puns on idiomatic phrases. In the following case, his statements about poetry involve plays on phrases commonly found on road signs. That said…
Francisco Hernández
& Antojo de Trampa (the book
this poem is taken from)Respete Las Señales
Para Toño Valle
No deje poemas
sobre el pavimento.Página izquierda
sólo para rebasar.Endecasílabos
a 150 m.Conceda cambio
de estrofas.Precaución:
entrada y salida de sonetos.No rebase con rima continua.
Poesía urbana:
velocidad restringida.No maltrate las vocales.
Poemas con más de 10 versos,
por la autopista.Si escribe no maneje.
Precaución: poema próximo.
Despacio: hombres escribiendo.
Elija su poema oportunamente.
Esta carretera
no es de alta poesía.Disminuya su velocidad
de lectura.Se consignará a la persona
que tire poesía.Retorno a 250 versos.
* * *
Respect the Signs
for Toño Valle
Don’t scatter poems
along the roadway.Left page margin
for passing only.Hendecasyllables
500 feet.Yield
to changing stanzas.Caution: sonnets
entering and exiting.No passing when rhyme is continuous.
Urbane poetry:
speed restricted.Don’t damage the vowels.
Poems more than 10 lines long
must use expressway.If you write, don’t drive.
Caution: approaching next poem.
Slow: men writing.
Choose your way forward before the poem narrows.
This highway
isn’t for high-speed poetry.Slow down the velocity
of your reading.A ticket will be issued
to anyone trashing poetry.U-turn in 250 verses.
The one that may puzzle you the most is the fifth from the last: “Elija su poema oportunamente,” which literally means “Choose your poem wisely.” The road sign’s language is different, of course: “Elija su carril oportunamente,” which means “Choose your lane ahead of time” (not “wisely,” though wisdom is implied). Why would a driver need to do this? Well, seems it’s used in situations where the lanes narrow up ahead—when traffic flows from normal size lanes into narrowed lanes on a bridge, for example—so that changing lanes becomes especially dangerous—as on a bridge. I’m still not sure I unpacked all this very well, but “Choose your way forward before the poem narrows” seems about right, although much of it doesn’t appear in the Spanish. Translator/traitor, indeed!