Beauty Keepsake
after somanyears of maybes perhapses hopefulliesnothing's left but whys nevermores and eithersnow neverly the mostestnow just the shescorpionalwaysly not beenpure postlove almost inlove shroudedin the subsoul or the dislifedecemberly ended Recuerdo de la belladespués de añísimos de quizases talveces ojalasesno quedan sino porqués nuncamases y tampocosya jamasmente la ísimaya solo la escorpionaparasiempremente no sidael puro postamor casi inamor amortajadoen la subalma o la desvidadiciembremente terminado
Feature Date
- May 27, 2021
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- Translation
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“Beauty Keepsake” from PREPOEMS IN POSTSPANISH AND OTHER POEMS: by Jorgenrique Adoum.
Published by Action Books March 1st 2021.
Copyright © 2021 by Jorgenrique Adoum.
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission.
Jorgenrique Adoum, widely-recognized as the most important Ecuadorian intellectual of the twentieth century, was an award-winning poet, novelist, essayist, and playwright. During his lifetime, he published 14 books of poetry. Of Lebanese descent, he was born in the Andean town of Ambato in 1926. As a young man, he studied in Chile, where he became Pablo Neruda’s personal secretary. He began publishing poetry in 1949. In 1960, he won the first ever Casa de las Américas prize in Cuba, soon to become the most prestigious literary prize in Latin America. He died in Quito in 2009 and is buried at the Chapel of Man, the museum and cultural center created by his friend, the outstanding visual artist, Oswaldo Guayasamín.
Katherine M. Hedeen’s latest translations include prepoems in postspanish and other poems by Jorgenrique Adoum (Action Books) and from a red barn by Víctor Rodríguez Núñez (co•im•press). She is a Professor of Spanish at Kenyon College, a Managing Editor of Action Books, and the Poetry in Translation Editor at the Kenyon Review. More info: www.katherinemhedeen.com
Víctor Rodríguez Núñez (Havana, 1955) is one of Cuba’s most outstanding and celebrated contemporary writers, with over fifty collections of his poetry published throughout the world. He has been the recipient of major awards in the Spanish-speaking region, including, in 2015, the coveted Loewe Prize. His selected poems have been translated into over a dozen languages. His latest book in English translation is from a red barn (tr. K. Hedeen, co•im•press, 2020). He divides his time between Gambier, Ohio, where he is a Professor of Spanish at Kenyon College, and Havana, Cuba. More info: www.victorrodrigueznunez.com
Notre Dame, Indiana
University of Notre Dame
"These electric poems burn and mourn, seduce and jeer. They bend language and lore; they strain against state repression. They painstakingly document the 'cottony calm' and the turtle’s 'historical sadness,' in a translation that attends expertly to the poems’ ecstatic coinages and revolutionary energy. It’s an awesome book."
—Natalie Shapero, author of Hard Child
"For the rest of my life, I will be grateful to these translators! Jorgenrique Adoum has an extraordinary landscape for us to meet, explore 'in the subsoul or the dislife' and to know poets, poetry, as new all over again. The strength of poetry has never been more evident!"
—CA Conrad, author of While Standing in Line for Death
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