By Javier Etchevarren, translated by Don Bogen. Photography by Diego Vidart.
The Despicable Man Watching TV
it enters the eyes and comes out the mouth
a feed of words
to get our drives drooling
with exotic passions that sustain us
through the shock
of unending effluvium
everything happens at a distance
the despicable man
a parasite of circumstances
emperor of mediocrity
he has only himself for a family
he bangs into things
he abandons himself
watching TV
the screen is the horizon
the screen is the oracle we subscribe to
the screen is the answer when there are no questions
there is a place devoid of people
a feast gone rotten
an imaginary gift
there is love that accounts for the lechery
there is lechery that accounts for the place devoid of people
the despicable man watching TV
forfeiting the time he acquired at birth
a spectator excited by the show
Hombre vil frente a la televisión
entra por los ojos y sale por la boca
es una transmisión de verbos
para que nuestras pulsiones se saliven
en pasiones extrañas que sostenemos
al chocarnos con cualquiera
efluvio indiviso de la audiencia
todo acontece fuera de uno
parásito de las circunstancias
emperador de la mediocridad
hombre vil
él mismo es su familia
él mismo se golpea
él mismo se abandona
frente a la televisión
la pantalla es el horizonte
la pantalla es el oráculo para abonados
la pantalla es la respuesta cuando no hay preguntas
hay un lugar despoblado
un banquete putrefacto
un recuerdo imaginado
hay amor explicando la lujuria
hay lujuria explicando el lugar despoblado
hombre vil frente a la televisión
perdiendo el tiempo que ganó al nacer
espectador excitado de actuación
The Despicable Man Combing His Baldness
an audience of troubled confabulations
bids for his misery
his frustration leaks out
in elusive hopes
and that humiliation though a warning
doesn’t amount to much
because he combs his eyebrows
with the enormous self-assurance
of a man used to forgetting he’s bald
he’ll take a break from work
he’ll pronounce upon what’s unimportant
laughing at his own bitterness
the light’s just come back
time means something again
the despicable man is combing his baldness
in front of the mirror
reality in fragments
more authentic
a spineless
repetition
Hombre vil peinando su calvicie
pujan por su miseria
un auditorio de fabulaciones desconcertadas derrama su frustración
por las goteras de esperanzas inasibles
y esa humillación es premonitoria
apenas un entrenamiento
porque su certeza es un peine enorme
para las cejas de un rostro acostumbrado
al desamparo de su calvicie
descansará en su trabajo enunciará lo insignificante riéndose de su amargura
la luz acaba de volver
las horas otra vez tienen sentido el hombre vil peina su calvicie frente al espejo
realidad más auténtica fragmentaria
repetición
invertebrada
Transit III
it’s not a bird
it’s not a plane
it’s not a superhero either
puffing up the sky
people stop and speculate
it’s not a flying saucer but it’s a UFO
it cruises the neighborhood
it bombards us with doubts
it’s a symbol, a sign
a phenomenon
the kids are delighted
the old folks can’t remember anything like it
it’s clumsy in flight
its course is clear
there are some who identify with its ease
the journey it has to make
its final migration
already we’ve formed a crowd
the resplendent enigma
shines
“it’s an omen”
a mystic assures us
“there must be an explanation”
a skeptic replies
it comes closer
at last we understand it
it’s an ordinary plastic bag
caught in the breeze
Tránsito III
no es un pájaro
no es un avión tampoco es un superhéroe da volumen al cielo
la gente se detiene y especula
es un ovni pero no un platillo volador sobrevuela el barrio
nos bombardea de dudas
es un símbolo, una señal
un fenómeno
los niños lo celebran los ancianos no recuerdan nada parecido su vuelo es torpe
su rumbo es claro
hay quien se identifica con su gracia excursión obligatoria
migración definitiva
ya somos una breve multitud
brilla
enigma refulgente
“es un augurio”
– asegura un esotérico-
“debe de haber una explicación”
– responde un escéptico-
avanza
al fin lo entendemos
es una bolsa de nylon ordinaria
cautiva del viento
City Bird
gray as smog
its nest set precariously in a cornice
with the trees gone
it takes shelter amid arteriosclerosis,
fruits of the garbage dump
and puddles filled with the nectar of cars
noise carried off its song
untimely epitaph
cadenza of its decline
city bird
hiding from children
unnoticed by the passers by
who look up at airplanes instead
crude imitations of what first took flight
Pájaro de ciudad
de nido precario en la cornisa desheredado del follaje
gris como el smog
lo ampara la arteriosclerosis, los frutos del basural
y los charcos con el néctar de los automóviles
el ruido arrebató su canto epitafio precoz
cadencia de su decadencia
pájaro de ciudad
prófugo de los niños
inadvertido por los transeúntes
que prefieren admirar a los aviones brutales emuladores del vuelo originario
Expansion
those pustules of noise
voracious panic tunneling through
slag-pocked skin
supplies that nauseate
atrocious chemicals tearing the air
rivers full of filth where the fish drown
everything exploited, nothing gets away
poor sick human world
Expansión
esas pústulas de ruido
el pánico voraz que lo socava
la piel infectada de escoria
su indigestión de pertrechos
el aire desgarrado por la química atroz
la corrupción en sus ríos donde se ahogan los peces todo explota, nada escapa
pobre mundo enfermo del hombre
Javier Etchevarren was born in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1979. He is the author of the book *Desidia*. His poems have appeared in the literary journals *Maldoror*, *Letra Nueva* and were included in the anthology *ME USA* published in Perú. Five of his poems are included in *América invertida: an anthology of younger Uruguayan poets* which is forthcoming from the University of New Mexico Press.
Don Bogen is the author of four books of poetry, including his most recent book *An Algebra* (University of Chicago, 2009). His translations of contemporary Spanish poet Julio Martínez Mesanza have appeared in *Boston Review*, *Pleiades* and other journals. He is the Nathaniel Ropes Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Cincinnati and the poetry editor of the *Cincinnati Review*.