Translations: Zachary Schomburg and Mathias Svalina We asked two poets to exchange work and create interpretations of each other's poems. Click on the links below to read the original texts and new interpretations, and then come back to get the poets’ commentary on the process.
Read: Creation Myth by Mathias Svalina; reinterpreted by Zachary Schomburg Zachary Schomburg Commentary I attempted to be as literal and as direct as possible in translating Mathias’ poem into the world I have created in my manuscript, Scary, No Scary. The narratives are, essentially, identical: there is a flood, then a fire, then some disrespect for life, death, and self, then some obvious homo-eroticism for Richard (which I wanted to make more clear (one important task, I think, of translation: magnifying the vital, but subtle.)). I am consistently wowed by Mathias’ poetry, particularly his new Creation Myths project, and I find myself stealing from his bag of tricks when I write. One thing I most admire is his ability to turn the poem toward places it should never go. He’s risky. And these risks often exemplify his ingenuity. His turn toward Richard in this poem is an excellent example, particularly because of the turn’s sincerity. Richard is real. For real. In translating this poem, I needed to capture a similar, seemingly insignificant (to the established narrative) turn. And to translate this into my Scary, No Scary world, I had to incorporate the following things: a roughly one sentence per stanza structure, zombie-like tell-don’t-show emotions, and the building of a house (in the manuscript, nearly every poem is pre-house or post-house). The house is scary.	Read: from Scary, no Scary by Zachary Schomburg; reinterpreted by Mathias Svalina Mathias Svalina Commentary Translation as in a conversion. You start with one number & end up with another number but it’s still the same number & that number can’t buy you a gallon of milk. Jeff Goldblum steps out of the contraption in a garden of dry ice & stands tall & naked in his laboratory warehouse. Translation as in stepping on a different soil—here we call your mirror the mimeticon, here we call your article the verb. I’ve been trying to, as all writers are if they know what’s good for them, create an entire world that exists in the experience of the text, i.e. the omnivalence of the reader’s eyes & shoe size. There are rules. Gravity. Technology. Phonemes. Ticklish spots. Animals may add you as a friend on myspace & then run out to the store for more condoms. They might not add you & you’ll wonder why forever. There is potential for anything to happen & then the inevitable sadness resulting from something happening. Sometimes in high heels. Sometimes walking a dog with a short leash. A seed grows into a cockroach, you see. In translating Zach’s poem I tried to retain the original intent of my reading of his poem within a new matrix or system. I was paraphrasing. I did my best. I see the world of his poem as one of growth, of creation. Ironically I see the world of my poem as one of failure, the original flaw. I was raised Catholic. My dog bit me when I was a kid. In translating Zach’s poem I tried to convert his images into my use of images. I zapped them into my little world of stuttering creation myths & asked them to look around & see what they could do. When Superman came to earth he wasn’t any different, it’s just that he could fly. I invited his thing into my space. His old man was a bird, was all the birds. His I was consumer culture. His soul was memory.
** Zachary Schomburg's chapbook, Abraham Lincoln's Death Scene, will be published by horse less press in late 2006 and his first full-length book of poems, The Man Suit, will be published by Black Ocean Press in early 2007. He is currently doing the following things in Lincoln, NE: co-hosting the Clean Part Reading Series, co-editing Octopus Magazine and the new press, Octopus Books, pursuing his PhD in poetry, and living with A, M, S and G. Mathias Svalina lives in Lincoln, NE where he co-curates The Clean Part Reading Series & co-edits Octopus Books. Poems of his have been recently published or are forthcoming in Fence, No Tell Motel, Typo & Denver Quarterly, among other journals. Archived at http://lit.konundrum.com/poetry/schomsvali_renderings.htm