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Ángel González’s “Penultimate Nostalgia”
I didn’t post at all last week because we were in Mexico. I noticed there was no hue-and-cry! Nevertheless, I want to report that I read some wonderful books in swimming palm-leaf shade and the rustle of surf. Let me start with this poem by the great Spanish expatriate poet Ángel González, from a collection translated with great subtlety by E. A. Mares, Casí Toda La Música y otros poemas (in English, Almost All the Music and Other Poems). It’s pretty long, but I can’t resist sharing it: Penultimate Nostalgia The time for nostalgiahas arrived.Read More
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Adios, Ángel González
The fine anti-Franco poet’s obituary appeared in The Miami Herald. Here’s my (inadequate) translation of his poem “Hope…”: Hope,black twilight spider.You haltnot far from my forsakenbody, you scuttlearound me,rapidly weavingtenuous invisible threads,you draw near, relentless,and almost caress me with your shadowheavyand light at once. Clenchedunder rocks and hours,patient, you awaited the comingof this eveningwhere nothing nowis possible… My heart:your nest. Bite into it, hope.Read More