Poèmes de bagages / Luggage Poems
traduction,
Maxianne Berger Passionné de poésie depuis plus de 40 ans, Michael Dylan Welch a tant de réalisations et d’honneurs qu’on ne peut tous les énumérer ici, mais notons en quelques uns. En 1991 il a cofondé le colloque Haiku North America, en 2000 il a fondé l’association Tanka Society of America. En 2010 il a conçu NaHaWriMo, le mois national de l’écriture du haïku qui a lieu tous les mois de février depuis 2011. Ses poèmes ont été publiés dans des centaines de revues et de collectifs et traduits en une quinzaine de langues. Il a été primé maintes fois. Au cours des 20 ans du Tanka Splendor Awards, 14 de ses tankas se sont classés parmi les gagnants, et 2 de ceux-ci, choisis de sa suite « Luggage Poems » (Poèmes de bagages), sont traduits dans ce numéro de Cirrus. Pour en savoir davantage sur ce poète, sur sa poésie, sur sa poétique et sur sa vie de poète, son site web—www.graceguts.com—est une véritable mine d’informations. On y apprend que la citation préférée de Michael Dylan Welch est tirée de L'empire des signes (1970) de Roland Barthes : « Le haïku a cette propriété quelque peu fantasmagorique, que l'on s'imagine toujours pouvoir en faire soi-même facilement ». Oui, Barthes parle ici du haïku, mais il est certain que cette apparence de simplicité s’applique autant au tanka. une brise d’été | French
translation, Maxianne Berger Passionate about poetry for more than forty years, Michael Dylan Welch has so many achievements and honours that we cannot list them all here, but note in a few. In 1991 he cofounded the Haiku North America Conference, in 2000 he founded the Tanka Society of America. In 2010 he started NaHaWriMo, National Haiku Writing Month, which has been held every February since 2011. His poems have been published in hundreds of journals and anthologies and translated into about fifteen languages [actually, more than twenty]. He has received many awards. During the twenty years of the Tanka Splendor Awards, fourteen of his tanka were among the winners, and two of these, chosen from his “Luggage Poems” sequence, are translated in this issue of Cirrus. To learn more about this poet, his poetry, and his life as a poet, his website—www.graceguts.com—is a wealth of information. We learn that Michael Dylan Welch’s favorite quote is from Roland Barthes’ The Empire of Signs (1970): “Haiku has this rather fantasmagorical property: that we always suppose we can write such things easily.” Yes, Barthes speaks here about haiku, but it is certain that this appearance of simplicity applies as much to tanka. summer breeze lifts a corner of our picnic blanket— I place a grape on your outstretched tongue perhaps I dream too much of you— but, for all the world that summer cloud is the shape of your face these roses in a porcelain vase— I cannot believe yet I want to believe they are from you jingle of the dog’s collar out in the hall— we pause in our lovemaking, Christmas Eve morning sun warming our sheets . . . for a moment as you slide your body down, your nipple in my navel ink stain on the pillow slip— what else but write can I do while you’re gone her plane disappears into starlight . . . and somewhere in her luggage my love poem “summer breeze” —Tanka Splendor 2002. Published online at http://www.ahapoetry.com/ts2002.htm. [Tanka Splendor Award Winner, 2002] “perhaps I dream” — Footsteps in the Fog. Michael Dylan Welch, ed. Foster City, California: Press Here, 1994, page 40. “these roses” — Tanka Splendor 1995. Larry Gross, ed. Gualala, California: Aha Books, 1995, page 40. [Tanka Splendor Award Winner, 1995] “jingle of the dog’s collar” — American Tanka #11, Fall 2001, page 25. [Translation by Mike Montreuil.] “morning sun” — Footsteps in the Fog. Michael Dylan Welch, ed. Foster City, California: Press Here, 1994, page 39. “ink stain” — Tangled Hair #2, 2000, page 43. “her plane” — Hummingbird X:2, December 1999, page 37. |