Lorna Goodison: “Días del Bibliobús” (Bookmobile Days)

Posted: August 14, 2016 | Author: Zócalo Poets | Filed under: English, Lorna Goodison, Spanish, ZP Translator: Alexander Best |Comments Off on Lorna Goodison: “Días del Bibliobús” (Bookmobile Days)

Lorna Goodison (born 1947, Kingston, Jamaica)

Bookmobile Days

.

Reader 1

.

The one who was pressed

up against the door

clutching the last book borrowed;

book read by naked light bulb,

street lamp, bottle torch, or moonlight.

.

The child who’d cut ties

to blood lines and school friends

in order to make the acquaintance

of characters bound to become

trusted lifelong companions.

.

That one would brave blizzards,

extract swords from stones,

fly back to Guinea never ever

having eaten salt.

Fall in and out of doomed love,

forget tethered goats,

neglect to fetch water

in a tin that once brought kerosene

and so draw the ire of parents.

This is the one who would

climb aboard wide-eyed and greedy

for what was carried in the hold

of our brave new world caravel on wheels.

.

Reader II

.

She said: “I’d like a book of fairy tales, please.”

It was a weekday

but she was all Sunday clothes.

Pink frilly frock butterfly bows

white socks patent leather shoes.

She said her godmother had dressed her up

to come and visit the bookmobile.

. . .

Lorna Goodison (nace 1947, Kingston, Jamaica)

Días del Bibliobús

.

Lectora 1

.

Ella que presionó sobre la puerta,

agarrando el último libro prestado

– un libro leído por

una bombilla pelona / una farola / una linterna en botella /

la luz de luna.

.

La criatura que rompió la relación con

su linaje y camaradas de escuela

para conocer a

personajes destinados a volverse

compañeros leales de toda la vida.

.

Ella que desafiaba nevascas;

extraía espadas de las rocas;

volaba de vuelta de Guinea

jamás de los jamases

habiendo comido la sal.

Enamorarse de alguien / desencantarse del mismo

a causa del amor malhadado;

olvidar cuidar a las cabras atadas;

no cumplir con traer el agua en una lata

que contenía el queresén

– y de esa manera enfurecer a los padres.

Ésta es ella que se montara a la ‘carabela-sobre-ruedas’,

la carabela de nuestro ‘mundo feliz’;

ésta es ella: ingenua y ávida por

lo que llevaban en la bodega del ‘barco’.

.

Lectora 2

.

Ella dijo:

“Me gustaría un libro de cuentos de hadas – por favor.”

Durante un día de semana…pero

ella llevaba puesta su ropa de domingo:

un vestido de color rosa con volantes y lazos en forma de mariposa;

calcetines blancos con zapatos de charol.

La muchachita dijo que su madrina

había vestir elegante a ella – para venir a visitar el bibliobús.

. . .

Image at top: Cover of Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore. This book is the subject of a companion poem to “Bookmobile Days” called “Tagore on the Bookmobile”.

Lorna Goodison lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she teaches at the University of Michigan. She also divides her time between her native Jamaica and Toronto, Ontario, Canada – just “up the road” from Michigan. The poem featured here is from her most recent poetry collection, Supplying Salt and Light, published by McClelland & Stewart in 2013; Goodison did the watercolour painting on the cover. Her first book of poems, Tamarind Season, from 1980, also included illustrations by her own hand. In 2013 Goodison was awarded Jamaica’s Order of Distinction for “outstanding achievements in Literature and Poetry.”

. . .

Un otro poema de Lorna Goodison / Another poem by Lorna Goodison: “Mi Testamento” / “My Will”

https://zocalopoets.com/category/poets-poetas/lorna-goodison/

. . . . .

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