Poetries - Politics: A Celebration of Language, Art, and Learning 9781978832756

Table of contents :
CONTENTS
FOREWORD The Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences
NOTE ON THE TEXT
INTRODUCTION
PART I REFLECTIONS ON THE POETRIES –POLITICS PROJECT
1 WHY POETRIES –POLITICS?
2 LANGUAGES IN THE MAGIC LANTERN
3 POETRIES, POLITICS, AND PRACTICUM
4 THE INTRICACY OF TRANSLATING POETRIES –POLITICS INTO VISUAL ART
5 HOPE AND DESPAIR Political Poets in Revolutionary Societies
6 POETRIES –POLITICS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF ONE DESIGN STUDENT
7 THE PEDAGOGY OF POETRIES –POLITICS How to Craft Your Own Project-Based Learning Course
PART II CATALOGUE OF POSTERS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PERMISSIONS
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
INDEX

Citation preview

POETRIES –­ POLITICS

POETRIES –­ POLITICS A CELE­BRATION OF LANGUAGE, ART, AND LEARNING

EDITED BY JENEVIEVE DELOSSANTOS

Published in association with Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences

rutgers university press New Brunswick, Camden, and Newark, New Jersey; and London and Oxford, UK

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: DeLosSantos, Jenevieve, editor. Title: Poetries - politics : a celebration of language, art, and learning / edited by Jenevieve DeLosSantos. Description: New Brunswick : Rutgers University Press, [2023] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2021058217 | ISBN 9781978832718 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781978832732 (epub) | ISBN 9781978832749 (mobi) | ISBN 9781978832756 (pdf) Subjects: LCSH: Posters, American—New Jersey—New Brunswick—Exhibitions. | Social problems—Posters— Exhibitions. | Political poetry—Exhibitions. | Multilingualism—Study and teaching (Higher)—New Jersey—New Brunswick. | Rutgers University—Students. Classification: LCC NC1849.S54 P64 2022 | DDC 741.6/740974942—dc23/eng/20220714 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021058217 A British Cataloging-­in-­Publication rec­ord for this book is available from the British Library. This collection copyright © 2023 by Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey Individual chapters copyright © 2023 in the names of their authors All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. Please contact Rutgers University Press, 106 Somerset Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901. The only exception to this prohibition is “fair use” as defined by U.S. copyright law. References to internet websites (URLs) ­were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor Rutgers University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared. The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—­Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. www​.­rutgersuniversitypress​.­org Manufactured in the United States of Amer­i­ca

La poésie doit être faite par tous. Non par un. Poetry must be made by all. Not by one. —­Isidore Ducasse, Comte de Lautréamont (1846–1870)

CONTENTS

Foreword: The Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences | Susan Lawrence  ix Note on the Text  xiii Introduction | Jenevieve DeLosSantos  1

PART I | REFLECTIONS ON THE POETRIES –­POLITICS PROJ­ECT  10

1 Why Poetries –­Politics? | Mary Shaw  13 2 Languages in the Magic Lantern | François Cornilliat  27 3 Poetries, Politics, and Practicum | Atif Akin  38 4 The Intricacy of Translating Poetries –­Politics into Visual Art | Ouafaa Deleger  49 5 Hope and Despair: Po­liti­cal Poets in Revolutionary Socie­ties | Ian C. Lovoulos  57 6 Poetries –­Politics from the Perspective of One Design Student | Devon Monaghan  65 7 The Pedagogy of Poetries –­Politics: How to Craft Your Own

Project-­Based Learning Course | Jenevieve DeLosSantos  70

PART II | CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS  82 Acknowl­edgments  239 Bibliography  243 Permissions  247 Notes on Contributors  251 Index  255

Installation view with student-curator, Tianqi Ying, Poetries –­Politics, 2017, College Ave­nue Academic Building, Rutgers. Courtesy of Kara Donaldson.

FOREWORD The Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences

the lineage of the rutgers university–­New Brunswick School of Arts and Sciences runs to 1766, when it was established as Queen’s College, the eighth of nine colleges started during the U.S. colonial period. The classical education in Greek, Latin, physics, and astronomy that Queen’s College students received in the eigh­teenth ­century has now expanded to encompass more than one hundred majors and minors, instruction in more than twenty-­five world languages, and imaginative scholarship, pedagogy, and student work such as the Poetries –­Politics proj­ect documented in this volume. As Rutgers grew from a small colonial college to a major public research university, the structure for providing an outstanding undergraduate education in the arts and sciences also evolved. By the 1970s, four separate institutions in New Brunswick ­were providing an arts and sciences education to Rutgers undergraduates: Douglass College, Livingston College, Rutgers College, and University College. In 1982, faculty ­were centralized into the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, but the college system continued for students. In the fall of 2007, the arts and sciences colleges and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences came together as the new School of Arts and Sciences. ­Today, the School of Arts and Sciences is home to over forty departments ranging across the humanities, social and behavioral sciences, and natu­ ral sciences. Over twenty thousand undergraduates find their home in the School of Arts and Sciences. As the institution has changed, more importantly, so have our students. Ours is one of the most diverse undergraduate populations in the nation, with only 36 ­percent self-­identifying as white. Over one-­ third of our students, eco­nom­ically and socially diverse, are first-­ generation college students. Our students come to us from over

Foreword

SUSAN LAWRENCE

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Foreword

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125 countries and all fifty states and gradu­ate with a global network of friends and fellow alumni. Our students’ linguistic diversity is remarkable. One-­third of New Jerseyans speak one of over forty languages other than En­glish at home.1 However, over two-­thirds of our students consider themselves heritage speakers of a language other than En­glish according to a recent survey by the SAS Language Engagement Proj­ect.2 Adding to the linguistic richness our undergraduates bring to us, our faculty teach over twenty-­five world languages and are experts in the lit­er­a­tures and cultures of ­those languages. Not only does Amer­i­ca converge h ­ ere, but as former president Barack Obama noted in his 2016 commencement speech, our multilingual world converges ­here in the School of Arts and Sciences. Hence, it becomes clear that the Poetries –­Politics adventure was the right proj­ect, at the right place, at the right time, resulting in a dizzying five-­year adventure. Beginning in the creative imagination of Professor Mary Shaw in 2016, it came to life as a pedagogic proj­ect in 2017 as Shaw put enormous faith in the energies and abilities of our students. In ­these pages you ­will find the multifaceted work of our students that in fall 2017 first adorned the walls of the new Academic Building on the College Ave­nue campus, where part of the Dutch Reformed Seminary once stood. ­Later, in another innovative project-­ based learning experience, a multidisciplinary group of students worked collaboratively with Professor Jenevieve DeLosSantos in ­doing the hard editorial work necessary for a permanent installation of the posters on the walls of the Academic Building in fall 2019. The enthusiasm of the School of Arts and Sciences executive dean Peter March and the Rutgers University Press has enabled the Poetries –­Politics proj­ect to now culminate in the publication of this beautiful cata­logue. As we now go to press, a global pandemic vividly reminds us just how interconnected we all are while also putting up new walls between us in the form of travel restrictions, social distancing protocols, and masks. The racial reckoning of 2020 has taken on a global scope as the vio­lence and inequities visited upon racial and ethnic groups, even when a common language is shared, have taken center stage. T ­ here too, the power of 3 combining words and images has been central. So, our work continues. In 2018, the School of Arts and Sciences launched the Language Engagement Proj­ect as a series of curricular initiatives to support multilingualism on campus. In 2019, the school established the Rutgers En­glish Language Institute, dedicated to supporting multilingual students in their learning of En­glish and to promoting linguistic equity on campus. In 2020, t­ hese two School of Arts and Sciences programs, along with members of our Linguistics faculty, collaborated to launch the Language and Social Justice Initiative. A few months ­later, Rutgers University established the Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice, supported by a $15 million Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant, bringing together scholars from multiple humanities disciplines whose research and writing address racism and social in­equality. Along with the founding director, many of ­those scholars have a home in the School of Arts and Sciences, and our multilingualism w ­ ill play an impor­tant role in the institutes’ work. Both the innovative project-­based pedagogies of Poetries –­Politics and our embrace of multilingualism further the School of Arts and Sciences’ commitment to excellence,

opportunity, and leadership in preparing our students for a life of civic engagement, personal purpose, and ­career success in a rapidly changing global world. As we stand at this watershed moment, perhaps an arts and sciences education has never been more impor­tant—­one in which students engage in proj­ects such as Poetries –­Politics in concert with peers who are working to understand our commonalities while valuing differences, to create art in all of its forms, to advance science and health, to understand and further develop new technologies like artificial intelligence, to unravel the complexities of how to peacefully live together in the modern world, to understand our pasts and imagine our ­futures, and to understand what truly makes us ­human—­what inspires and sustains us as Poetries –­Politics does. New Brunswick May 2021

NOTES 1 Census data reported by the New Jersey Department of Transportation. Its map of languages spoken by New Jersey counties is posted at https://­w ww​.­state​.­nj​.­us​/­transportation​/­business​/­civilrights​/­pdf​/­map​ _ ­language​.­pdf. 2 The Language Engagement Proj­ect is a series of curricular initiatives that view languages as a “vital part of the very fabric of the ‘globalized’ world in which we live, they are best learned in active connection with other domains of experience and areas of study, from the Humanities to the Sciences to Professional fields. This is particularly true of multilingual and multicultural New Jersey, where more than 30% of the population speak a language other than En­glish at home.” For more information, visit https://­ lep​.­r utgers​.­edu​/­.

Foreword

3 Ma­ya Salam, “How Plywood from Last Year’s Protests Became Art,” New York Times, 20 May  2021, https://­w ww​.n ­ ytimes​.­com​/­2021​/­05​/­20​/­a rts​/­design​/­george​-­f loyd​-­memorialize​-­t he​-­movement​.­html​ ?­referringSource​= ­a rticleShare.

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NOTE ON THE TEXT

Note on the Text

the poetries –­ politics proj­e ct brings together a diverse array of international poetry in both an exploration of the intersection of poetic texts and po­liti­cal experiences, and a cele­bration of language diversity on our campus and beyond. Rutgers is home to multiple scholars who specialize in a variety of languages. The editor of this volume has consulted many of our language experts to ensure the accuracy of the poems and translations in this text. However, as is often the case with translation work, the scholars we consulted had varying interpretations of our selected texts, and the versions presented ­here may be dif­fer­ent than published versions found elsewhere. Moreover, the proj­ect presented ­here is an example of student work and may contain errors in transcription and translation. We share this proj­ect in the spirit of pedagogical innovation and to showcase our students’ ingenuity and creativity. Lastly, please note that e­ very attempt has been made to secure the rights to each of the works reproduced in this volume, their accompanying translations and visuals. Any omission was made in error and ­will be rectified upon further editions of this text.

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POETRIES –­ POLITICS

Figure I.1: Ignazio Buttitta, Language and Dialect. Poster design by Devon Monaghan, 2017.

INTRODUCTION

Now I understand as I fin­ger the guitar frets of the dialect that each day another chord is lost. —­F rom “Language and Dialect,” Ignazio Buttitta (1899–1997)

sicilian poet ignazio buttitta wrote the lines above as part of his 1970 poem “Language and Dialect” (fig. I.1). A moving reflection on the profound loss of one’s native language, Buttitta’s words suggest that the very soul of the Sicilian ­people, the spirit of the populous is starved at the loss of its ­mother tongue. That jarring loss of culture, “the guitar frets of the dialect” missing “chords,” echoes the cacophonous quality of graphic design student Devon Monaghan’s (Mason Gross 2018) design for a poster she created to visually interpret the work as part of the Poetries –­Politics proj­ect. A striking contrast of royal blue and marigold, the dizzying layers of broken words, piles of yellow letters layered upon each other set the background for two arresting eyes that confront our gaze. Tears of light blue text, the En­glish translation of the poem found center, stream from the striking stare as they lead our eye to the power­f ul image of a physically censored mouth where a blue “X” obscures the figure’s ability to speak and contains a jumbled mix of the En­glish and Sicilian titles of the poem. This anonymous figure is both no one and every­one as it ­visually emerges from and is consumed by the dizzying array of

Introduction

JENEVIEVE DELOSSANTOS

A ­People become impoverished and servile, when taken from them the language endowed by their ­fathers: is lost forever.

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Jenevieve DeLosSantos

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disorderly broken words. Together, the poem and the poignant design give us a visceral sense of the pain in confronting broken language, broken culture, and broken spirit. For me, as an art historian and editor of this book proj­ect, this poster and its featured poem capture the essence of Poetries –­Politics. In coming together, the textual and the visual give new life, create a wholly new work of art that provides the viewer-­reader with material for deep contemplation. Moreover, the self-­referential nature of this poster that manipulates words and letters into visual forms and depicts a poem about language itself, speaks to the heart of this proj­ect: the power of both poetry and the visual arts, of words and images, both languages themselves to connect, communicate, divide, and unify. The Poetries –­Politics proj­ect originated in the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences (SAS) ­under the guidance of French professor Mary Shaw and became a 1.5-­credit interdisciplinary course charged with the Herculean task of mounting a campus exhibition and hosting an interdisciplinary, multilingual conference exploring the richness of exceptional international poetry in fall 2017. Each of the course’s sixteen students, studying an array of arts and sciences disciplines, became a “student-­curator” for the semester, taking responsibility for select language groups. Yet although in charge of the “collection,” each student embarked on a remarkable pro­cess of both traditional research and “crowdsourcing” new information and interpretations of ­these poetic works. Working with their respective communities and culling information from a multitude of sources, students ultimately drafted a series of informative design briefs that would serve as the basis for the exquisite posters created u ­ nder the direction of graphic design professor Atif Akin from the Mason Gross School of the Arts. ­These originally designed, hybrid “poster-­poems” include poetic works in their native languages accompanied with English-­or French-­language translations. For each poem/translation pair selected and researched by the student-­curators, graphic design students then arranged the text and combined them with images or integrated them into original designs that add new interpretive layers to the poems, explore the nuanced shifts that occur with translation, and speak to the generative power of pairing text with image. The poster-­poems are reproduced in the pre­sent volume, representing rich, inspiring examples of student-­led, student-­generated, creative innovation.1 Reaching across disciplines and schools, this proj­ect resulted not just in the critical analy­sis of poems but in the inventive creation of new works of art, exploring the interconnectedness of art and poetry as expressive media. Ancient Roman poet Horace is credited with the famous phrase ut pictura poesis, or “as is painting, so is poetry.”2 The parallel expressive qualities of both mediums ­were put in competition against each other through the Re­nais­sance, and the careful contemplation of their histories has structured traditional liberal arts education through the Enlightenment and beyond. ­Whether fine art, design, or popu­lar visual culture like advertisements, cinema, and tele­vi­sion, the formal qualities of line, shape, color, contrast, and scale evoke both analy­sis and pathos; they can convey the intangible in ways distinct from the expressive power of words alone. Likewise, poetry, through its formal ele­ments of rhythm and style, liberates language; it allows it to communicate with aesthetic intensity, often evoking the abstract and ethereal. Despite this competition, both language and art bring p ­ eople together. They link us as a community and empower us to share, connect, emote, and express. Word and image give life to emotions and form to

Introduction

­ uman intellect, and in this way can often be mobilized as po­liti­cal agents. Language h and image as markers of difference, as forms of demonstrating otherness, as ways of exemplifying educational prowess and forms of both providing and withholding a sense of belonging, have ­shaped history and culture across both time and the globe. It is at this intersection of the poignancy of poetic language, the expressive power of the visual, and the effect of insightful po­liti­cal commentary that the true essence of the ­Poetries –­Politics proj­ect surfaces. As a poetry scholar and a poet herself, Professor Shaw initiated and designed this course at a time of heightened po­liti­cal crisis. As she discusses in her essay, “Why Poetries –­Politics?,” she envisioned Poetries –­Politics as a way to engage students in some of the world’s most impor­tant works of po­liti­cal poetry and to engage with po­liti­cal concepts expressed in the medium throughout time and space. The innovative pedagogical approach to teach poetry and history through collaboration paid off rich, unexpected dividends. It grew into a proj­ect that would become as po­liti­cal as the works it featured, materializing into the exquisitely designed posters illustrated ­here, and taking physical form as an exhibition in the then–­newly erected Academic Building on Rutgers University’s College Ave­nue Campus. A building that featured imposing white walls and long stretches of win­ dows, the space was perfect for this transformative exhibition. Rather than think of walls that set bound­aries and create separations, a theme that was overtly po­liti­cal in the aftermath of the 2016 election’s immigration policies, ­these walls would become home to an inclusive array of languages and cultures, and give life to the collaborative work of the Rutgers community, turning barriers into cele­brations of cultural and historical diversity. Moreover, the autonomy granted to the students in choosing materials, exploring ways to conduct research, and r­ unning this proj­ect fostered a palpable sense of student owner­ship and engagement. That absorption is reflected in the breadth of this proj­ect, which expanded from the classroom not just into a two-­day colloquium in 2017 but into accompanying pro­ cess films executed by a collaboration with Rutgers film students and a formal and more permanent reinstallation (fig. I.2) of the exhibition in the College Ave­nue Academic Building, and, over three years ­later, it now pursues a global outreach in the form of this book. Rutgers University–­New Brunswick is home to over seventy-­one thousand students, from over 125 countries and all fifty states and a huge population of students who are multilingual; it is one of the most diverse campuses in the country. The breadth of Poetries –­Politics reflects this diversity, featuring over forty languages that span the globe across M ­ iddle Eastern, South Asian, East Asian, North and South American, and Eu­ro­pean cultures. At its core, the politics of this proj­ect are to use Rutgers as a locus of cross-­cultural inclusion both literally through the spaces on its physical campus referenced above and in the less tangible spaces of community and exchange necessitated by a proj­ect with this remarkable breadth and reach. Poetries –­ Politics celebrates not just the diversity of our community but reaches far beyond it, creating new works of po­liti­cal poster-­poems that explore common themes in the ­human condition throughout time and space for the contemplation of viewers of all kinds to enjoy. This cata­logue commemorates this tremendous proj­ect of ingenuity and collaboration, a testament to the spirit of Rutgers and its diverse community, and expands upon the themes initiated in the original exhibition and accompanying symposium of 2017, exploring the complexity of putting such a proj­ect together, with all its interwoven parts, and allowing space for reflection on individual poster-­poems and their connections across time,

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Figure I.2: Reinstallation view, 2019, College Ave­nue Academic Building, Rutgers. Jenevieve DeLosSantos

Courtesy of the curator, Jenevieve DeLosSantos.

4

Introduction

languages, and cultures. It includes reproductions of sixty-­five poster-­poems paired with transcriptions of the poems in both their original language and En­glish translation. Additionally, it includes a number of accompanying essays from both the faculty and students who helped to make this proj­ect a real­ity. Together the essays and plates offer a cele­bration of what the study of humanistic disciplines provides students; this book gives a permanent form to the acts of creative enterprise each student undertook in collaborating with peers, friends, and ­family to develop the posters for this proj­ect. Most of all this book is indebted to the creative energy of professor of French Mary Shaw, associate professor of art and design Atif Akin, and distinguished professor of French François Cornilliat, as well as to the students studying a broad range of disciplines who have helped to make this a real­ity. It is ­these voices that this book prominently features and celebrates. In “Why Poetries –­Politics?” Shaw commences our conversation, sharing with us her initial inspiration in creating such an innovative course, its development throughout the semester, and its goals for the larger campus community. As a poet and a scholar of French poetry, she shares her innovative approach to exploring poetry in the SAS classroom and the ways she envisions its intersection with the visual arts. Shaw walks us through the complexity of “politics” as defined by this proj­ect, the multivalent po­liti­cal dimensions of poetry, and the incredible po­liti­cal act of the proj­ect culminating in the “walls of inclusion” at the 2017 exhibition itself. Her essay is complemented by François Cornilliat’s contribution, “Languages in the Magic Lantern,” which explores the po­liti­cal dimensions of language study at SAS and the ways in which campus diversity is both inclusive of many and exclusive of some. Cornilliat, who led a campus-­wide language task force and serves on the implementation committee for the SAS Language Engagement Proj­ect, offers his profound expertise on both language study and the vibrant community of multilingual learners at Rutgers. Examining the current state of critical language study within higher education, Cornilliat adds another layer to the complex tapestry of this proj­ect in outlining the context within the landscape of liberal arts curricula. The need for an articulation of critical language study and the depth of analy­sis it brings to the college experience could not be greater amid moments of decreasing enrollments. Through his fluid analy­sis of the interconnectedness of the works included, he demonstrates the humanity of this proj­ect both as it relates to the historical subjects of the poetic works it encompasses and as it resonates in the pre­sent. In his essay, “Poetries, Politics, and Practicum,” Atif Akin shares his perspective as he led his class of eleven graphic design students through a collaboration that was unpre­ce­ dented at this scale. Walking us through the initial stages of working with Shaw, he describes his thought pro­cess and strategy as he guided his class through the stages of design. He continues, giving the reader a glimpse into the working practices and development of each of his students individually. Exploring a poster for each student respectively, Akin demonstrates the unique creative approach he fostered in his course and adds a rich dimension to the accompanying cata­logue at the conclusion of this text. As a student proj­ect, at the heart of Poetries –­Politics, lie the voices, perspectives, and contributions of the student-­curators and designers who worked so diligently on its original incarnation. One student-­designer in par­tic­u­lar is featured as an author in this volume. Devon Monaghan (Mason Gross 2018), designer of the poster above (fig. I.1), not

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Jenevieve DeLosSantos

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only worked on the original iteration of this proj­ect in the 2017 course but continued to work with the editor of this volume on necessary revisions to the master poster files prior to the newly designed installation and publication of the book. Having worked on this proj­ect through its entirety, Devon shares her unique perspective, citing the challenges of a proj­ect at this scale and the ways it helped her develop as an artist in her essay “Poetries –­Politics from the Perspective of One Design Student.” Speaking from the perspective of Shaw’s interdisciplinary course, two student-­ curators, Ian C. Lovoulos (SAS 2019) and Ouafaa Deleger (School of Gradu­ate Studies, PhD candidate in French), lend their voices to this proj­ect to share with readers a deep critical analy­sis of two works, respectively, that they helped to create. Ian, as the student ambassador for this proj­ect, was deeply invested in recruiting additional student-­curators and working with Professor Shaw from its inception. As a po­liti­cal science and history major, he shares his unique take on two poster-­poems: Anna Akhmatova’s “Every­thing Is Plundered, Betrayed, Sold” and Georgios Souris’s “The Greek” in his contribution, “Hope and Despair: Po­liti­cal Poets in Revolutionary Socie­ties.” Despite dif­fer­ent time periods, geographies, and sociohistorical contexts, Ian explores the uncanny parallels between the poets’ reactions to totalitarian governments and their ability to use their poetic voices to express sentiments of frustration, defiance, and hope amid censorship and turmoil. Ouafaa Deleger, a doctoral student in the French department, both served as a gradu­ate assistant for the original course and took on the role of the French department’s student-­curator. Her essay, “The Intricacy of Translating Poetries –­Politics into Visual Art,” provides the reader with a view of her thought pro­cess as she worked through the complicated task of translating the textual into the visual for two poems. Her analy­sis of Abdellatif Laâbi’s “Four Years” and an excerpt of Omar Khayyam’s “Rubaiyat” gives the reader a glimpse into the thoughtful care and critical interpretation she took in articulating a design vision; moreover, she explores the delicate exchange and vulnerability she experienced as she collaborated with student-­designers on plans that both affirmed and challenged her initial perspectives. In the final essay, “The Pedagogy of Poetries –­Politics: How to Craft Your Own Project-­ Based Learning Course,” I write as the book’s editor and curator of the permanent campus installation about the innovative pedagogy that underlies the Poetries –­Politics proj­ect. Exploring its ele­ments of project-­based learning, I discuss the course as a model of innovative teaching practices and provide strategies to aid educators in replicating similar endeavors themselves. The spirit of this proj­ect, as a contribution not just to the Rutgers community, can be expanded beyond campus to educators at vari­ous levels seeking new ways to involve students with an engaging proj­ect that helps support critical thinking and facilitates higher-­order creative and analytical learning goals across disciplines. Fi­nally, the book pre­sents the elaborately illustrated cata­logue of sixty-­five posters, each shown next to the poem that generated it in both the original language and translation. Or­ga­nized alphabetically by poet’s last name, the cata­logue demonstrates the wide variety of works included in this proj­ect as well as the creative range of the posters’ designs, each idiosyncratic and tailored to reflect the nature of the poem it represents. Not merely illustrations that accompany texts, t­hese posters represent new works unto themselves and are presented to the reader for further contemplation. Of the original sixty-­five

posters featured in the proj­ect, two are reproduced with blurred text in the pre­sent volume due to issues in acquiring rights to the poem or translation.3 ­Every effort has been made to credit the proper sources for each of ­these poems and their accompanying translations; the permissions portion of this book acknowledges each to the best of our ability. ­These ­legal limitations have unfortunately led to the omission of key works in crucial language groups, for example, the exclusion of our Hindi poem “Agneepath” and our Somali poem “Gocasho.” The regrettable omissions are largely disadvantaging non-­Western languages, a po­liti­cal real­ity that stems from legacies of colonialism that privilege the work of Western poets and scholars. ­These posters are represented at the very end of the cata­ logue, without their poetic text, but accompanied by citations, allowing readers to access them. This gesture is an effort to provide space for ­those works we are unable to include and acknowledge the contributions of our global poets. Spanning over three years of work, multiple iterations, and countless hours of diligent rights work, Poetries –­Politics is a proj­ect designed around the princi­ples of interactive collaboration and a testament to how dynamic and public-­facing humanities scholarship can be. Crossing departments, including students, faculty, and friends and ­family alike, this proj­ect is first indebted to the work of the student-­curators and designers and the help of an incredible number of co-­collaborators from the university and beyond. This book honors the contributions of all parties who helped s­haped this proj­ect, listed in full in the acknowl­edgments. This proj­ect, and book, would not exist without the support of the School of Arts and Sciences, and special thanks are given to Susan Lawrence, vice dean of undergraduate education, and Peter March, executive dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, for their generous and unwavering backing of this proj­ect through its initial stages, as it expanded into a reinstalled installation and into the book currently before you. Fi­nally, as I write this in early January 2021, I cannot help but return back to the original po­liti­cal impetus ­behind this proj­ect: to give space to, celebrate, connect, and unify the words of ­people from all walks of life, in languages that truly represent and honor the diverse fabric of not just our Rutgers campus but beyond to our national and global communities. Walls of inclusion have now taken the form of pages, yet they still hold within them stories of the ­human condition, snapshots into moments of po­liti­cal unrest, of social injustice, of uprisings, and of revolt that we sadly are no further from ­today. It is my hope that the reader ­will use this book to also contemplate the messages of faith, optimism, and love that lie not only in the beauty of ­these poetic words but in the generative spirit of understanding, translation, and transformation embodied in the work of this proj­ect.

NOTES

2 Horace, “Ars Poetica,” Poetry Foundation, 31 October 2019, https://­w ww​.­poetryfoundation​.­org​/­articles​ /­69381​/a­ rs​-p ­ oetica. 3 The total count of posters reflects the group of originally designed posters and does not include the total count of generic designed posters too large to include in this current volume.

Introduction

1 The total number of posters produced was 116, but almost half ­were illustrated as the ones included in this book. The other poems ­were reproduced on brightly colored posters with contrasting fonts, referred to as Generic Design Posters, in a gesture that alluded to Ellsworth Kelly’s spectrum installations. For more information on t­ hese poems and their installation, see Atif Akin’s essay in the pre­sent volume.

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Top left: Installation view, Poetries –­Politics, 2017, College Ave­nue Academic Building, Rutgers. Courtesy of Ian Defalco.

Bottom left: Installation view, Poetries –­Politics, 2017, College Ave­nue Academic Building, Rutgers.

Jenevieve DeLosSantos

Courtesy of Stephen Williams.

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Top right and bottom right: Reinstallation view, Poetries –­Politics, 2019, College Ave­nue Academic Building, Rutgers. Courtesy of the curator, Jenevieve DeLosSantos.

Reinstallation view, Poetries –­Politics, 2019, College Ave­nue Academic Building, Rutgers.

Introduction

Courtesy of the curator, Jenevieve DeLosSantos.

9

PART I

WHY POETRIES—POLITICS?

REFLECTIONS ON THE POETRIES –­POLITICS PROJ­ECT

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Installation view with student-curator, Kimberly Peterman, Poetries –­Politics, 2017, College Ave­nue Academic Building, Rutgers. Courtesy of Kara Donaldson.

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our title immediately invites questions, thanks to its graphic pre­sen­ta­tion, where it looks perhaps (in En­glish) a bit stranger than it sounds. Spoken or uttered, this two-­word sequence could be heard as pointing to a possessive, that is, poetry’s politics, and thus to a familiar and well-­defined relation between its terms. What we are offering instead are just two juxtaposed nouns, two terms loosely conjoined by a strictly visual dash. Why name our proj­ect in such an elusive yet eye-­catching way? Simply ­because the dash, so deftly used by the ­great American poet Emily Dickinson (in a style illustrated by the poster dedicated to her “I Had No Time to Hate”), emphasizes both a link and a boundary, or separation, between two ­things (fig. 1.1). By its very arrangement, then, our title refuses to define or confine what its words pre­sent any further than claiming both autonomy and interdependence between them. Rather, we invite each reader to freely interpret the nature and implications of the relationships between poetries and politics; we choose to represent multiple possibilities rather than ­settle for an obvious one. We also do this to stay true to each of our title’s two terms, which themselves equivocally embrace singularity within plurality and vice versa, in inverse but symmetrical ways. The rare plural poetries insists on multiplicity, on diversity, in a word whose singular (poetry) is already assumed to embrace a plurality; whereas politics, functioning as a “false” plural in En­glish, slyly assumes singularity within plurality as its natu­ral form. Thus, even in its monolingual En­ glish formulation, the phrase ­poetries –­politics can be mind-­boggling; it’s a title that makes one think. And yet, this phrase has caught on easily at Rutgers among students, faculty, and administrators alike, who have not felt the need to analyze it as we have just done ­here. Could this be ­because the sounds—­rhymes,

WHY POETRIES –­POLITICS?

MARY SHAW

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rhythms, and alliterations—­also embedded within the title convey all that is needed, in a holistic way? I think so, for ­these basic poetic “devices” musically capture for the ear much of the play between singularity and plurality made vis­i­ble in e­ very one of our multilingual posters, each of which is bilingual even down to the proj­ect’s logo. It is crucial to note from the start that all of the poems presented ­here are offered in the original language(s) of their composition as well as in translation in one of the two linguae francae used in the modern Olympic games—­English and French. En­glish was an obvious first choice for a common language; French less so, but understandable insofar as this proj­ect was first launched from a Francophone space, the French Department at Rutgers. One objective of our collectively generated, multilingual po­liti­cal poster-­poems, with their bilingual log­os (for example: Poetries –­Politics / Poésies—­Politiques), was to be, as it ­were, doubly poetic. Their very forms strive to engage the reader’s senses, imagination, and intellect within two distinct but related plays and spaces of language, which a given poet already engaged with and set down for two dif­fer­ent but interrelated reasons: first, to express her/himself in a unique (or singular) way; and second, to engage or invite as many other selves as pos­si­ble to interpretively participate in this language play. In our exhibition, each poem’s (or poet’s) initial invitation has already been accepted by that most highly interactive of readers—­a translator. Anyone who has ever tried to translate poetry can attest to the myriad of constraints, but also to the surprising freedom of choice that comes to bear on this activity. In translation, one encounters at the same time a dazzling openness of disparate languages to harmonic coincidence and a daunting array of obstacles that prevent one from transferring especially rich verbal forms from one language and culture to another. This, again, is true even of our log­os: they have to register differences among languages that do not always allow for variations on the kind of equivocal play between singularity and plurality that our En­glish title offers. In French, for example, Poésies—­Politiques (given the ­silent dash) can sound to the ear like a plural noun modified by a plural adjective, whereas in other languages, this equivocal play could not be translated and still make any sense: in such cases we had to flatten the playing field by choosing ­either two singular or two plural nouns. Let us now expand this conception of our proj­ect to propose that poetry seen on the page also naturally offers itself as a kind of musical score for reading to be enjoyed e­ ither alone or within a community. This simultaneous but alternative call to ­either private (individual) or public (shared) appreciation becomes even more enhanced in a visually compelling poster-­poem, which thus pre­sents itself as an especially hospitable poetic form. To perceive poetry as hospitable draws us close, I believe, to understanding what its innate po­liti­cal nature might be. For when a poem comes across as “power­ful,” it is typically not in the sense of a speech or slogan or demonstration, but rather in the sense of tangible language art, composed of words, letters, and sounds that welcome readers in to partake of their verbal and sensorial—­rhythmic—­construction for a time. As in hospitality, where a host offers and opens his or her own ­house for the primary purpose of receiving guests, the poet pre­sents the poem in writing, in its unique form, as open to the understanding and interpretive creativity of ­others. The poem is si­mul­ta­neously

WHY POETRIES –­POLITICS?

Facing: Figure 1.1: Emily Dickinson, “I Had No Time to Hate.” Poster design by Jessica Weisser, 2017.

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autonomous from and dependent upon the reception of individual readers who are called on to enter it for a time and inhabit it as they see fit, ­whether this be just to enjoy reading in silence, to voice the text in recitation, to commit it to memory, to translate it, or to transpose it visually or musically, or in any of the other myriad ways that p ­ eople have responded to poetry across space and time. ­Because it so happens that the idea and play of Poetries –­Politics first visited me (in 2016), I am happy to provide ­here some notes about how and why the proj­ect was conceived and shared with ­others, and about what it embraced before I confided it to the hands of our editor, Jenevieve DeLosSantos, who has now shepherded it through several further stages of expansion and transformation. From its beginning, Poetries –­Politics comprised two interdependent but also autonomous components. The first was primarily an oral event: an international, interdisciplinary colloquium, which I co-­organized with colleagues from several other language departments, inviting poets and scholars from around the world to speak about the relations between poetry and politics at Rutgers in what­ever way they wished. The second component, the student-­created poster exhibition that we are presenting ­here, explored ­these same relations visually and tried, in a homegrown way, to attain “global reach,” mining the linguistic, cultural, and creative resources available within the Rutgers community to open and frame the colloquium event. Why was a Poetries –­Politics colloquium or­ga­nized in the first place? For reasons that ­were deliberate and scholarly-­poetic on the one hand, and on the other chance-­determined or contingent. This event represented both a logical culmination to my personal research, which has always been focused on poetry’s relations to other ­things, and an opportunity to celebrate the con­temporary French poet Claude Mouchard, whose work I had just edited and translated (in my first attempt at something like this) ­under the title Entangled -­ Papers! -­Notes, a se­lection of his poetry published by Contra Mundum Press in 2017.1 This is a work I was particularly excited about and e­ ager to share. Mouchard is a preeminent scholar of testimonial lit­er­a­ture (including poems) inspired by twentieth-­century po­liti­ cal catastrophes. He is also a lifelong editor and translator of poets from all around the world, writing in many languages. Mouchard’s poetry had intrigued me for years b ­ ecause it is extraordinarily acute and effective po­liti­cally and yet manages at the same time to be intensely lyrical, that is, expressive of the poet’s own most intimate or private feelings. Further, Mouchard’s poems open themselves to incorporating within them the individual voices of ­others. And yet, what first drew me to this poetry (which cannot be separated from its unique po­liti­cal character, described by Richard Sieburth as a gift of “unflinching hospitality”) was its compelling visual dimension on the page, its complex and subtle performative typography, which is not at all figurative, but rather expressive of dynamic, musical qualities. Our student-­created poster exhibition took shape as an organic complement to the planned colloquium, but it also had other origins, again both deliberate and chance-­ determined. On the one hand, my impulse to include a wide and diverse range of students as major actors and participants in a scholarly event was simply an extension of a practice I have consistently turned to in my teaching. Naturally disinclined ­toward hierarchy, authority, and formal rigidity, I have always relied on an instructional style

WHY POETRIES –­POLITICS?

that at once is openly personal or subjective and places a premium on allowing students to individually choose what they wish to work on, thus giving students as much responsibility as pos­si­ble for their own learning pro­cesses. ­Whether at the introductory or doctoral level, I rarely lecture in an extended manner; instead, I offer compelling examples of texts, concepts, phrasing, literary devices that appeal to me, suggesting as concisely as pos­si­ble why this is so. Then I ask the students to do the same for each other and for me: for the group or community that we are forming. Long experience had taught me that students could accomplish wonderful ­things on their own, when allowed to choose what they wish to focus on and provided with strong examples, flexible guidelines, and the resources they need. I was confident we could recruit a select group of student-­curators to participate in this proj­ect, who would then be themselves responsible for finding other students still, and guiding them through the creation of a multilingual exhibition: students with expertise in many dif­fer­ent languages and drawn from many dif­fer­ent disciplines. Not surprisingly perhaps, the three ­people who most influenced the modality of my proj­ect ­were well versed in the study of politics. The very notion that multicultural and aesthetic proj­ects could be si­mul­ta­ neously curated and crowdsourced, and thus be scaled, came to me through witnessing my ­daughter Elizabeth Lazarre Kaplan’s creation of a digital community ­music and dance proj­ect titled On the Map, for the NYC nonprofit organ­ization the Door. And the framework that allowed Poetries –­Politics to happen at our university was assembled from the beginning in collaboration with two of my closest working partners outside the classroom, both po­liti­cal scientists. One was Susan Lawrence, associate professor of po­liti­cal science and vice dean for undergraduate education at the School of Arts and Sciences. Susan enthusiastically welcomed the proj­ect and encouraged me to construct it as an interdisciplinary course from the beginning (wisely reminding me that volunteerism in a university can go only so far). The other, equally impor­tant partner was Ian  C. Lovoulos, a po­liti­cal science major and my SAS Honors program mentee,2 who agreed to become my first assistant, to pre­sent the proj­ect to his peers, and to brainstorm with me continually as to how it could work and draw many students in. Even before this stage of development, however, other impor­tant circumstances triggered the proj­ect’s inception. One was temporal: a growing concern on my own part with politics. Who can forget the surge in intensity, the contagious obsession that seized so many around the 2016 presidential election? This is when the Poetries –­Politics colloquium was first being planned. It also happened that at the same moment the majority of language departments at Rutgers had just been gathered from far-­flung corners of multiple campuses to be ­housed together for the first time in a single new place: a centrally located, lavishly designed, corporate-­style building with tons of glass all over and long bare walls. When my department chair, Richard Serrano, asked me one day what I thought language programs could do to celebrate our proximity within this new home, it occurred to me in an instant that it would make an ideal space for a multilingual po­liti­cal poetry-­ poster exhibition. We thus agreed on the spot that I could try to make this happen as a complement to the fall 2017 Poetries –­Politics conference that was already in the works. Curiously, it was even ­earlier, in the summer of 2016, while corresponding from France about the Mouchard volume with Contra Mundum Press, that I was e-­introduced to Atif

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Akin, the artist and professor of design at Rutgers’s Mason Gross School of the Arts, who would become my partner in developing the poster proj­ect. In spring 2017, Atif and I met for coffee and considered ­whether we could collaborate in some way on the endeavor. Within minutes, Atif generously proposed to commit himself and all of the students in his Fall design practicum to creating the ­actual posters. It was clear that this partnership would radically change and improve the proj­ect. The original plan had been for SAS to provide our curators with a mostly blank template poster, on which students would print the poems and translations, and then could decorate however they wished. This would have resulted in an in­ter­est­ing exhibition and provided a ­great learning experience. But it certainly would not have produced the power­ful aesthetic quality of the posters presented ­here, which celebrate unity-­in-­diversity (and singularity as well as plurality) at ­every level and in the very pro­cess of their design. Though the decision to collaborate with another class and with a dif­fer­ent part of the university meant that we (my own school, my students, and myself) would cede half of the control over our proj­ect to other hands, we all recognized that to entrust the poems and translations that we selected, along with the research and visual ideas that accompanied them, to the care and interpretation of yet another group of students practicing a dif­fer­ent art was to make our proj­ect not only more aesthetically ambitious, but more profoundly po­liti­cal. For our primary aim was to express ourselves and yet to be inclusive, to do so in a way that could integrally embrace the ideas and creativity of as many ­others as pos­si­ble, and in a manner that would be si­mul­ta­neously autonomous from and interdependent with our own. This brings us to our proj­ect’s broadest po­liti­cal aim and themes. Our all-­embracing mission was to simply seize a moment, take advantage of an opportunity to unite our highly diverse community poetically, thus helping to c­ ounter a highly divisive po­liti­cal situation that was creating g­ reat stress. ­Here is how I set it down in my course description: “What we w ­ ill be trying to build, through our course and campus-­wide, with this opening exhibition for the Poetries –­Politics colloquium, ­will be inviting multilingual walls (as opposed to the alienating border ‘wall’ that has been much discussed of late); walls that welcome the finest and most power­ful po­liti­cal poetry ever created throughout the world.” I had roughly expressed the same idea before, in vari­ous contexts, in order to recruit students and invite faculty participation. As one might expect, faculty (especially) had questions: How ­were we ­going to define po­liti­cal poetry? And how could anyone determine what the “finest, most power­f ul” manifestations of it would be? I insisted on not answering ­these questions alone, on leaving the bound­aries of what we would be presenting as open as pos­si­ble. Instead, I merely reiterated that we w ­ ere seeking strong poetic texts in as many languages as pos­si­ble, incarnating (representing and/or performing, e­ ither explic­itly or implicitly), for many, a po­liti­cal function or dimension within the cultures from which they came, texts carry­ing lasting beauty and effect, and conveying them in turn to the eyes of other cultures. When pressed, an example occurred to me of what I thought might be appropriate in an American context: a fragment from a transcendent po­liti­cal speech, such as Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream,” might well be considered a kind of po­liti­cal poetry, whereas a po­liti­cal slogan, and all the more a ­bitter and divisive one, prob­ably would not, no ­matter how catchy it might sound. But

WHY POETRIES –­POLITICS?

more importantly, I made it clear that groups of collaborating individuals from dif­fer­ent languages, heritage cultures, and disciplines w ­ ere g­ oing to select and decide themselves what would be appropriate for our exhibition. The role of student-­curators, and my own as their supervisor, was not to define bound­aries, nor to censor the se­lections of ­others, though it was of course our responsibility to provide all participants with some good examples and guidelines.3 We wanted to encourage freedom while avoiding propaganda and deliberate offense—­aware that the latter, in and of itself, constitutes a po­liti­cal choice worthy of analy­sis, the very line separating po­liti­cal poetry from po­liti­cal propaganda being anything but stable and self-­evident in the eyes of writers and readers alike. While I prepared guidelines for student-­curators with the help of art and humanities librarians at Rutgers, Atif and I completed a first sample “poster-­poem.” We had de­cided to give SAS students one month to complete their se­lection of all the poems and translations and the preparation of their “design briefs,” so that their Mason Gross counter­ parts could complete the poster designs the following month, before the start of the colloquium, which opened on November 9. Miraculously, nearly all of the student-­prepared poems, numbering more than one hundred, made it into the exhibition; roughly half of ­these w ­ ere exhibited in individually designed posters (four chosen among t­ hose gathered by each of the sixteen student-­curators), while the remainder ­were brilliantly integrated by Atif’s team into several color series honoring Ellsworth Kelly’s rainbow patterns. Accordingly, as shown by a mere glance at our exhibition brochure, which names all of the ­people involved in the creation of each poster, many actively participated in the proj­ect in dif­fer­ent ways. What is more, we also collaborated with a class of student filmmakers, who created five dif­fer­ent “video responses” to the poster-­poems. Given t­ hese severe time constraints, the number of ­people involved, and the historical and cultural range of the poetry represented, the result was all the more wonderful and surprising, in appropriately disparate ways. Let me give just one example of this range, within a single language. Our Chinese posters include two poems from the eleventh ­century: Su Shi’s “Mid-­Autumn Moon,” a text personifying the Moon by a canonical male poet who uses his first-­person voice to muse alone about the meaning of the world, and Li Qingzhao’s “Tune, A Dream Song,” a slightly ­later work by a g­ reat w ­ oman poet (whose f­ ather was a disciple of Su Shi), celebrating nature in a more down-­to-­earth way, as a love song reminiscing about what happened between the poet herself and another (a lover) in nature. This pairing and juxtaposition of a male and a female voice from the distant past by our Chinese student-­ curator Tianqi Ying (who also created the beautiful calligraphy for “Mid-­Autumn Moon”) can itself be seen as a po­liti­cal statement even though the poems themselves are not directly po­liti­cal. At the other end of the spectrum are two modern poems: “Groundless Fear,” a nineteenth-­century feminist war poem by Qiu Jin, who expresses her desire to exchange her kerchief for a helmet; and “Van Gogh and You,” a love poem by the late con­temporary dissident poet Liu Xiaobo, written to his wife from prison. Our SAS advising dean for international students, Fang Du, selected this poem for our exhibition when Liu died, in July 2017, shortly ­after he was granted “medical parole.” One poster, presenting a fragment from “With the Land,” a work by the Palestinian poet Rashid Hussein, was not designed in time to be included in our original exhibition

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Facing: Figure 1.2: Unknown, “When It Happens.” Poster design by Ryan Farrell, 2017.

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­ ecause of its exceptionally complex character. This poem was the last selected in an b En­glish translation by our student-­curator for Hebrew Jenna Kershenbaum, in an evolving thought pro­cess that she wrote about in an essay for our class. She and Aviv Ayash then translated it from En­glish into Hebrew, before our collaborators for Arabic ­were able to locate the original. We all agreed that the resulting poster-­poem, as an expression of this unique pro­cess, should become trilingual, thus embodying a fragile though still conflictual balance among several posters featuring Israeli and Palestinian poems that celebrate the very same land in directly or indirectly nationalistic terms. That is why the Hussein poster reached the design stage only in the second phase of the Poetries –­ Politics proj­ect, in the context of Jenevieve DeLosSantos’s class. Many of the chosen poems tell of war, from a variety of ­angles. ­Here are a few, differently connected to World War II: a haiku from a young, unknown kamikaze pi­lot (fig 1.2), whose courage consisted, paradoxically, in admitting fear within his culture.4 In the design phase, this impression of a paradoxically brave innocence became emphasized by designer Ryan Farrell’s introduction of playful paper airplanes—an addition that at first shocked our Japa­nese student-­curator, Ingrid Kuribayashi, who had selected the poem and the photo­graph for the poster. But this tension was ultimately resolved for her (as she also wrote for me in an essay) thanks to discussion with ­family members and further sharing of the work with peers, as shown in the film dedicated to the poster and its making. The “Postcards” of the Hungarian poet Miklos Radnóti, found on his body several months ­after his death in 1944, describe his feelings marching ­toward his own execution; whereas “­Every Day,” by the Austrian poet Ingeborg Bachmann, extends her intimate childhood experience of that same war to evoke a continual state of conflict and injustice in the world. Wars from many other times and cultures are also treated in poetic ways that can ­either take sides in a brutal conflict—as Agrippa d’Aubigné does in his polemical epic “Les Tragiques,” which denounces the persecution and massacre of Protestants in sixteenth-­century France—or meditate on it allegorically—as in the extracts from the Mahabharata’s Bhagavad Gita, sacred scriptures of Hinduism, composed around 200 bce, where a dialogue between Prince Arjuna and Lord Krishna urges the hero to consider his dhar­ma as a warrior and to prepare for what has become inevitable: war with his own kin. While this outcome is not surprising, I never suggested the theme of war for our proj­ ect: subjects ­were left to chance and to the linguistic, cultural, and ideological orientations of student-­curators. We did, however, consciously try to maintain a certain balance in some cases (as suggested above with re­spect to the Israeli-­Palestinian conflict), while being careful not to let it devolve into an erasure of (or symbolic solution to) the conflict itself. We also sought from the beginning to ensure that ­women poets would be well represented. Each student-­curator gathering poems within a given language cluster was charged with making sure that at least one ­woman would be included. We felt this was an impor­tant counterbalancing princi­ple for our effort to be widely representative of poets and poems within very diverse cultural canons across the ages, given the slim recognition of ­women poets ­until modern times. Simply by remembering to search for

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Mary Shaw

Facing: Figure 1.3: Wisława Szymborska, “Some ­People.” Poster design by Atif Akin, 2017.

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poems by ­women, we easily surpassed this quota. Two poems that deal—­very differently—­ with war and with the condition and plight of w ­ omen are “Recollection” by the Somali poet Asha Yusuf and “I: A Poet -­Am Ready?” by the Gujarati poet Saroop Dhruv. Both are feminist in their outlook, but in almost antithetical ways. Among the many poems selected with “identity politics” (to use a much-­maligned phrase) in mind, one might include the fragment by Sappho commonly titled “Confession”: its po­liti­cal dimension, which is inseparable from its popularity and is partly (and inevitably) anachronistic, lies in the fact that it is a love poem addressed to another ­woman by the greatest ­woman poet of antiquity. By contrast, many of our con­temporary poems prove highly intersectional in their po­liti­cal concerns: such is the case with Ma­ya Angelou’s “Still I Rise,” which combats racism, the legacy of slavery, but also gender oppression. Ignazio Buttitta’s Sicilian “Lingua et dialettu” explic­itly mixes language politics with the loss of cultural identity, whereas the Eritrean poet Ribka Sibhatu’s “My Abebà” mixes her indigenous African language with her colonial language (Italian) to tell of a w ­ oman’s imprisonment ­because she resisted marriage to a power­ful Eritrean man. Nadeema Musthan’s “I Have Occupied the Space” is a manifesto in verse affirming many sides of the poet’s intersectional po­liti­cal engagement within the context of her South African university. A most striking contrast is offered by “Ontem à tarde . . .” by the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa (writing ­under the alternate identity of Alberto Caeiro), which claims “the natu­ral egoism of flowers” in the face of any and all ­human suffering. Exile and migration are also prominent themes within our collection, which again is hardly surprising given the times we live in. I chose “Some ­People,” by the Polish poet Wisława Szymborska (fig. 1.3), to collaborate with Atif Akin for the pi­lot design brief and poster we prepared for our students, both ­because it was the first poem actually suggested for the proj­ect,5 and ­because I thought it would make an appropriate model, exemplary not only ­because of its emotional power and clarity, but also ­because of its deliberate indefiniteness. The poem—­f rom its very title—­rather than focusing on the par­tic­u­lar circumstances of the forced migration that inspired it, actually frames the plight of mi­grants anywhere and everywhere, standing beautifully for all mi­grants in modern times, and in a sense for all times. ­There are six original poems in Spanish in our collection—­more than in any other language, including En­glish or French; and the g­ reat Chilean poet Pablo Neruda is actually represented by two pieces: an excerpt from “Alturas de Macchu Picchu” and “Elección en Chimbarongo.” This preeminence of Spanish, like all e­ lse that came to play in Poetries –­Politics, was partly intentional and partly contingent. We happened to have two student-­curators for Spanish, which made sense given the unique importance of Spanish within our community; and their individual decisions w ­ ere also partly motivated by their personal interests and partly determined by chance. Which brings me back to considering how my own interest in the form of the “poster-­ poem” may have taken shape. It is unlikely that it ever would have occurred to me that we could create posters of this sort had I never seen—­let alone repeatedly studied—­one of the world’s most imposing visual poems, which is held at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli

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Facing: Figure 1.4: Sonia Delaunay (French, 1885–1979), The Prose of the Trans-­siberian and or ­Little Jehanne of France, 1913. Gouache on parchment and stencil colored pochoir with typography. Collection Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, The George Riabov Collection of Rus­sian Art, acquired with the Avenir Foundation Endowment Fund. Photo by Peter Jacobs 1998.0614.001-002.

Art Museum at Rutgers. This is the famous two-­meter-­long 1913 work La Prose du Transsibérien et de la pe­tite Jehanne de France (fig. 1.4), a collaboration between the Swiss poet Blaise Cendrars and the Rus­sian painter Sonia Delaunay. This is a stunning poem and painting that follows the poet’s travels on the Trans-­Siberian Railway from Moscow to Harbin and back to Paris, but that also refers to memories of other distant places. It seeks to represent the world. I ­will also conclude in alluding, as I often do, to another exemplary work—by Stéphane Mallarmé, a nineteenth-­century French poet whom I always carry with me. First published in 1897, “Un coup de dés jamais n’abolira le hasard” (“A throw of the dice will never abolish chance”) is widely considered to be the greatest modern visual poem. ­People have seen it as anticipating, among other ­things, ­great twentieth-­century scientific discoveries ranging from the theory of relativity to princi­ples ­behind quantum mechanics. Prominent French phi­los­o­phers from Sartre’s time forward have tested their ideas on this text; hundreds of writers, musicians, artists, and critics have referred to it at length or in passing; and a recent book by the Yale Medievalist Howard Bloch tries to capture the breadth of its impact in its clever title, One Toss of the Dice: The Incredible Story of How a Poem Made Us Modern. What is the topic of this poem? It describes a catastrophe of universal proportions, a final and dire shipwreck in the “eternal circumstances” of a raging conflict between skies and seas. This poem could certainly be read, for example, as an allegory of how humanity may not be able to navigate climate change, for many the greatest po­liti­cal challenge of our time. In one sense the poem sees our fate as already sealed or doomed insofar as it is left in the hands of the ship’s master, who hesitates as to ­whether or not to throw the dice before he is drowned. But in the end, it seems that the fate of the cosmos may not be hopeless, as it is also left to the stars and never wholly within nor outside the control of h ­ uman hands and thinking: “­Every thought emits a throw of the dice” is the final statement of the poem. Trying to create something and to understand something for ourselves and for o ­ thers, and yet accepting not to know just what our efforts may bring, Poetries –­Politics encourages individuals and communities to collectively roll the dice, poetically as well as po­liti­ cally: in a manner that engages ­others, and which opens itself to interpretation without sacrificing personal responsibility and agency. This serious yet playful endeavor has been productive for our university. ­Here’s hoping its inspiration w ­ ill endure.

NOTES

Mary Shaw

1 Contra Mundum is an in­de­pen­dent press founded by Rainer J. Hanshe. Its mission is precisely to welcome individual voices within a global sphere.

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2 The Mentorship program fosters relationships between Honors students and faculty members (whom the students choose) to get to know each other outside the classroom as well as to receive advice and support on an informal basis.

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3 See this description, as well as additional guidelines and other documents relevant to the proj­ect’s implementation, in chapter 7, “The Pedagogy of Poetries –­Politics.” 4 Please note, that the provenance of this par­tic­u ­lar poem is complex, and we ­were unable to locate a version of this text published in Japa­nese. For this proj­ect, the poem was retranslated into Japa­nese from the En­glish, and we cannot be certain about the historical context of its production.

Mary Shaw

5 The suggestion was by Edyta Bojanowska, a colleague who could not directly participate in the proj­ect as she was about to move to another university.

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2 LANGUAGES IN THE MAGIC LANTERN

the poetries –­ politics proj­e ct made visual art out of poems in forty-­nine languages.1 However minuscule when compared to the more than seven thousand still spoken in our world, this total is impressive in that it reflects—­imperfectly, like all reflections—­the number of tongues that are familiar or relevant to the students of a big American public university ­today. Among t­ hose students are international recruits with native fluency, immigrants and heritage speakers with diverse life stories and levels of competence, continuing learners perfecting a language first approached ­earlier, or beginners taking advantage of Rutgers’s own academic offerings (in about twenty-­five languages at the moment). Long before (and irrespective of ­whether) multilingual exposure becomes a po­liti­cal cause or statement, it is the po­liti­cal condition of any student body, living not only between two languages or more, but within a constellation of them. It does not follow that this condition is embraced by the individuals in question, let alone treated as an asset by the institution that hosts them. With re­spect to the latter at least, the opposite is true: in universities as in the entire education system of the United States, the study of world languages is declining.2 In a country where over sixty-­ five million ­people speak a tongue other than En­glish at home, the chasm that separates multilingual life from monolingual education continues to deepen: Amer­i­ca remains a place where the languages of the world both congregate and fade away. This essay does not discuss ­causes, consequences, or remedies (Rutgers, like many of its peers, is experimenting with the latter),3 but merely notes the obvious: while their demise may be foretold, not only are world languages alive on a campus like ours, but what they achieve ­there is a level of variety and concentration within a few square miles not observed in many places

Languages in the Magic Lantern

FRANÇOIS CORNILLIAT

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François Cornilliat

beyond the hallways of a few international organ­izations.4 The poems and posters of the Poetries –­Politics proj­ect do not merely illustrate this real­ity: to an unpre­ce­dented degree, they make it vis­i­ble (and legible) in our midst. As explained elsewhere, 115 posters ­were created by the students involved over the span of two months: sixty-­four “individual,” customized ones,5 in which a poem was matched by a singular design; and fifty-­one “generic” ones,6 in which poems ­were printed on monochrome backgrounds according to a spectrum of colors (fig.  2.1). The poems carry disparate and conflicting po­liti­cal messages—­some intended, some not; some literal, some allegorical. They speak of established or struggling identities, situations of dominance or re­sis­tance, hopes for peace and horrors of war. What their visual assembling produces is not reducible to ­these specific aims—­nor to the mosaic effect that further aestheticizes them: the peculiar resonance of linguistic diversity cuts through both form and content. It strikes before any message is received, before any pattern is perceived. Poems make language palpable; posters, even more so, as far as written forms are concerned. But when words, thus twice incarnated, come at and to us in so many tongues, what their common materiality also conveys is the strong difference and strange resemblance between the few we may understand and the many that remain opaque to us. This effect too is po­liti­cal. It is as though something we knew but paid ­little mind to, about the fabric of our social lives, suddenly emerged, appeared on the surface of our souls via that of our walls. The experience of incomprehension is part of any genuine comprehension of what languages are, as well as of any sincere effort to “get,” let alone learn, anything we are told in another idiom, even in our own. This basic truth, enhanced by any contact with poetic expression or with the challenge of translation, is made even more manifest by exposure to several languages at once. Visual poetry of the sort attempted h ­ ere is the opposite of cyber-­translation:7 it throws a bracing, wobbly bridge between the l­ ittle that we understand and the mass that we do not, instead of pretending to erase the latter. As we take in the kaleidoscopic beauty of this ensemble and start imbuing it with our own po­liti­cal message—­pertaining to the value of diversity—­,8 the politics of language inevitably kicks in. We see it at play among and within the poems and posters themselves, insofar as they “perform” dramas of linguistic empowerment or alienation. Yet not ­every po­liti­cal poem has to make a cause of the language in which it is written;9 some have to refrain from d ­ oing so.10 ­There is a reason why neither of our two Telugu texts (one a put-­down of the “tradition” argument [fig. 2.2], the other an attack on the “Histories of the Nations”) flaunts the tongue it uses.11 The same is true of a Yiddish poem by a Rus­sian American anarchist: it is “for all humanity” that it thunders against the “tyrants of the earth”;12 not once does it mention its own roots, linguistic or other­ wise. The same is true of a Turkish poem that evokes po­liti­cal oppression only to frame it within a universal, cosmic lesson “On Living” (fig. 2.3).13 And the same may remain true when the target is more specific. While a poem denouncing the mistreatment of

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Following Page Verso: Figure 2.2: Nirmala Kondepudi, “I D ­ on’t Want This Tradition.” Poster design by Jia Hang Zhang, 2017. Recto: Figure 2.3: Nâzim Hikmet, “On Living.” Poster design by Devon Monaghan, 2018.

Figure 2.1: Installation view, 2017, College Ave­nue Academic Building, Rutgers.

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Courtesy of Stephen Williams.

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François Cornilliat

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François Cornilliat

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­ omen by men in Somalia or a massacre of Protestants by Catholics in France draws its w pathos from the social proximity of aggressors and victims, the fact that they speak the same tongue is both implied and irrelevant.14 Even among pieces driven by the cause of national identity, the symbolic role of language is not a given: of two poems lamenting the same lost place (Spain),15 one brings nation, tongue, and country together u ­ nder the spell of a single name; but the other uses that name to evoke the span of a once-­and-­ future Muslim polity, which is neither country-­nor language-­based.16 None of this is to deny the importance of putting language politics at the core of a poem’s message, as many poets choose to do. ­Here, a so-­called “dialect” affirms, against contempt and coercion, its dignity as a “language.”17 ­There, a colonial language is mixed with its formerly colonized counterpart;18 or asked to pledge loyalty to a surviving ancestral tongue;19 or re­imagined to channel it;20 or forced, by a “language activist,” to denounce and fight itself.21 Elsewhere, two languages separated by war fail to understand each other, falling back on a third one instead;22 or two languages play their parts in echoing the conflict of two nations fighting over the same land.23 Elsewhere still, a poem embodies the access, to language and/or poetry, of a voice marginalized by gender or segregated by race.24 Most commonly, a po­liti­cal poem serves to mark a cultural, ethnic, or national identity of which language is a component—­whether or not this last point is explic­itly made. A closer look shows that such a marking comes in all kinds of styles: a foundational cele­ bration25 or interrogation,26 an enthusiastic or weary proclamation,27 a protest against oppression,28 a call to arms,29 a memorial,30 a burial,31 a set of tragic “postcards,”32 or a self-­mocking vignette.33 Again the figures are endless; the po­liti­cal rhe­toric of poems, often suspected of being antipoetic, is as varied as poetry itself. Such cross-­currents also remind us that language politics (like all politics) is quite susceptible to ambiguity and to the ironies of history: the alignment of language and nation, for one, can be liberating in one context, stifling in another,34 or both at once. The Poetries –­Politics displays encourage us to raise this array of questions in no par­ tic­u­lar order, and to pursue them through dozens of related and unrelated cases. While so ­doing, we may begin to recognize and or­ga­nize “families” of themes or effects, ­whether formal or ideological, across time and space. But as with all good kaleidoscopes, the real impact comes when patterns shift, when a shape suddenly flips and morphs into something e­ lse in front of our eyes. As suggested above, a key contributor to this creative instability is the shakiness of our own m ­ ental and sensorial grip as we navigate our way not just from image to text and from text to translation, but from a language we master to one that we cannot even decipher. It is time, therefore, to move back from the language politics of the posters to that of our own undertaking. In order to assess this, attention must be paid to the degree of liberty and chance inherent in this proj­ect, as well as to the few steps taken to limit or correct it. Student-­curators ­were f­ree to choose languages and poems; student-­designers, in turn, to choose which poems would receive an “individual” treatment, as well as to retain designs suggested by curators or create their own. At e­ very stage, other choices could have been made just as easily. Time also determined how many poems could be

Languages in the Magic Lantern

“customized”: that over sixty w ­ ere in just a few weeks is nothing short of remarkable. As a result, however, fourteen languages (out of forty-­nine) ­were confined to generic posters, which amplified some distortions or disproportions. For example, students had chosen poems in ten African languages;35 but only four (Somali, Swahili, Xhosa, Yoruba) ended up benefiting from individual designs. On the other hand, out of nineteen modern tongues of Eu­ro­pean origin (including En­glish and Spanish), only four (Belarusian, Croatian, Swedish, Yiddish) w ­ ere treated generically.36 The impact of a built-in Eu­ro­pean bias—­still pre­sent in American language learning despite the steady rise of non-­European languages in recent decades—is clear and unsurprising, but it was not the only force involved ­here. Other outcomes are also worth noting, linked in part to the identities or interests of the student teams, in part to current university population trends, and in part to larger cultural and po­liti­cal contexts. Of the five modern South Asian languages represented (Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Telugu, Urdu), all made it to customized posters (as did Sans­krit). So did four out of four Chinese poems (Mandarin only), while just one Japa­nese and one Korean poem (out of three for each) had this privilege. Other prominent Asian languages, such as Malay/Indonesian, Tagalog/Filipino, Viet­nam­ese, and Thai, are absent in ­either form; one Mongolian poem was treated generically. Of eight poems in Arabic (one each from Iraq, Egypt, and Tunisia; two from Syria; three from Palestine), five are pre­sent as singular posters in this volume, as are three poems in Hebrew (four more exist in generic form), linked to or hailing from Israel. Persian, Turkish, and Armenian are represented as well, albeit by only one customized poster each. On the other hand, no Creole language of any kind is pre­sent;37 nor a single Oceanic tongue; nor a single indigenous American one—­except Classical Nahuatl, by way of “The Aztec Priest’s Speech,” shown on a generic poster only.38 Some languages of Eu­ro­pean origin are represented by a number of non-­European texts—­with random differences of degree from one case to the next. Out of eight poems in Spanish, five come from Latin Amer­i­ca—­but only two, both by Pablo Neruda, gave birth to singular posters, whereas three out of the three hailing from Spain did. By contrast, two out of two poems in Portuguese are from Portugal; both ­were treated individually. By contrast again, two out of three “Italian” poems did, but one, by an Eritrean poet, incorporates phrases in Tigrinya, and the other is actually in (and about) Sicilian. French is yet another story: of fourteen poems (the French department’s role in launching the proj­ect explains this number), eleven came from France alone. Yet this disproportion was doubly corrected: only three became singular posters; one of them hails from Morocco. As for En­glish, only one customized poster features a poet from the United Kingdom (two more exist in generic form), standing alongside three iconic voices from the United States and one—­Singapore-­born and of Chinese descent—­from Australia. It is impor­tant to acknowledge and interpret ­those variations;39 it is also impor­tant not to overinterpret them. It is certainly not by chance, given the cultural landscape of American higher education or the demographic trends observed at Rutgers, that Eu­ro­ pean languages remain prominent while also tending to unmoor from Eu­rope; or that East and South Asian languages play a large and growing role. Nor is it by chance that African languages are becoming more vis­i­ble;40 that American languages still strug­gle to be recognized; or that the poetry chosen is overwhelmingly modern or con­temporary:

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34

only a few of the selected authors belong to e­ arlier times, let alone e­ arlier tongues (although Ancient Greek and Latin, thanks to determined students from classics, make a strong showing). Yet it is largely by chance that Japa­nese or Rus­sian w ­ ere represented by only one “individual” poster each, whereas Hungarian, Romanian, or Telugu have two, Modern (and Cypriot) Greek three, German four, and Haitian Creole zero. It is not by chance that a balance was kept between Israeli and Palestinian poems; or that the words of w ­ omen poets ­were given a place not often granted to them by their cultures of origin. But it is by chance, if unfortunate, that no poem from the Ca­rib­bean in any tongue made the “customized” cut.41 A large number of languages, a large number of students, a complex operation involving many technical difficulties and incompressible stages, all of this wrapped in a very finite time frame, ­were bound to produce a lot of material ­mistakes as well as significant cultural disparities; the attention that had to be spent on the former further lengthened the odds that the latter would be corrected. In truth, it could not have been other­wise. Indeed, ­those disparities, provided we see them, are a key part of the lesson. The politics of language, like all politics again, includes both happenstance and in­equality that is anything but. The ideal world in which all languages are represented fairly does not exist; what exists is a world in which languages—­human speakers and writers—­are forced to compete (for repre­sen­ta­tion also) on a playing field that is anything but level. With forty-­nine languages and thirteen dif­fer­ent scripts involved in this ­giant “show-­ and-­tell” exercise, and with its decision to make the show po­liti­cal by nature as well as demo­cratic by design, Poetries –­Politics “speaks” for linguistic diversity in a manner that transcends tokenism to give at least some sense of the stakes of the subject. But this is not real­ity by any means: to open oneself to a ­thing so vastly represented is to realize how much vaster and messier it is. Why this language? Why not that one? Why ­those two and not their neighbor, or rival, or victim, or unloved cousin? What about the hundreds that are not ­here and have millions of speakers? What about the thousands that have only thousands—or hundreds, and are losing them fast? What about the countless languages that have gone extinct? What about the ones that are not written, and therefore not “fit” for poster treatment? The point is to help raise such questions; not to ­settle for facile or fake responses. Unstable and unjust representation—or mea­sure, account, conception—is not a mere “bug” of our relations with languages in the plural. It is also a feature. The languages of Poetries –­Politics are and are not the languages of Rutgers. The languages of Rutgers are and are not the languages of the world. We are perennially dealing with cross-­and subsections, prone to serial gaps and rich in misunderstandings, while relying on them to keep something larger, and infinitely elusive, in our (­mental) sights; which is fine as long as we do not ­mistake the parts for the ­whole, even as we ask the former to stand for the latter—­poetically. Of the thirty-­three tongues other than En­glish counted by a recent study of immigrant cultures at Rutgers (based on a sample that excludes international students),42 the following did not appear on the walls of Poetries –­Politics: Creole, Kikuyu, Cantonese, Shanghainese, Visayan, Tagalog, Georgian, Kapampangan, Punjabi, Tamil, and Viet­ nam­ese. Conversely, among the modern languages that did show up on our walls,

twenty-­t wo are not found in the study—­not all of them spoken only by international students. Many more tongues could have graced ­either cata­logue. Samplings and surveys are works in pro­gress, based on certain goals and criteria;43 but they are never “every­ thing.” One speaker, in a sense, reaching out to an interlocutor, is closer to that symbolic mark; makes a living language ­whole, even though no speaker ever embodies the ­whole of a language. To the extent that they instill the empathy for the languages of the world of which they themselves are born, the poems and posters of Poetries –­Politics, looked at and read—be it in translation—­together and one at a time, help give voice to that one speaker; in forty-­nine tongues for starters, and then in many more, no m ­ atter how few each of us actually understands.

NOTES 1 The forty-­nine languages include four “classical” ones (Sans­krit, Ancient Greek, Latin, and Nahuatl) and two in their medieval form (Old and ­Middle French and Umbrian). 2 See, e.g., Commission on Language Learning, “The State of Languages in the U.S.: A Statistical Portrait” (American Acad­emy of Arts and Sciences, 2016), https://­w ww​.­amacad​.o ­ rg​/­publication​/­state​-­languages​ -­us​-­statistical​-­portrait. 3 See the “Language Engagement Proj­ect,” https://­lep​.­rutgers​.­edu. 4 Thus Peter J. Guarnaccia, Immigration, Diversity and Student Journeys to Higher Education (Bern: Peter Lang, 2019), found thirty-­three languages among a sample of 160 Rutgers students who ­were immigrants or ­children of immigrant parents (i.e., not counting international students). 5 From one stage of the proj­ect to the next, a few additions and substitutions brought the final total to sixty-­five. For the poster of Wisława Szymborska’s Some ­People, Professor Shaw and Professor Akin collaborated on the design. Thus, in the 2017 exhibition the total number of posters was 116. 6 While both kinds of posters adorned the walls of the Rutgers language departments in November 2017, only the individual creations ­were subsequently retained and are reproduced in full in this book. 7 An analogous experience, with spoken languages, could of course be obtained “musically,” by aural means. 8 See, for a satire of its opposite, Leonid Lamm’s “March of Equals” (Rus­sian): “Just one standard, / And just one pattern. / [. . .] Down with the monster of difference!” (generic poster; henceforth GP). 9 “Groundless Fear” (Chinese, individual poster; henceforth IP) dramatizes the poet Qiu Jin’s desire to fight for her country by alluding to the key fact of her gender—­not to the language or art she self-­evidently masters. The references found in Liu Xiaobo’s “Van Gogh and You” (Chinese, IP) have deep transcultural value, but are not “about” the relations of Mandarin with Dutch, French, or Hebrew. 10 See, above, Mary Shaw’s comments on Wisława Szymborska’s “Some ­People” (IP): the poem could not, without undoing itself, underline the fact that it was written in Polish by a Pole. 11 Nirmala Kondepudi, “We ­Don’t Want This Tradition”; Srirangam Srinivasa Rao (Sri Sri), “Histories of the Nations” (both IP). 13 Hikmet Nazim, “On Living” (Turkish, IP). See also Abu Al-­Qasim Al-­Shabbi’s “The ­Will of Life” (Arabic, IP). 14 Asha Lul Mohamud Yusuf, “Gocasho” (Somali, IP); Agrippa d’Aubigné, “Les Tragiques” (French, IP). We did not receive permission to reproduce the text for the former in this book. The poster’s design is featured in the cata­logue. 15 See the last word of Luis Cernuda’s “Impression of Exile” (Spanish, IP) and the first word of Muhammad Iqbal’s eponymous poem (Urdu, IP). Due to image rights issue, the Iqbal poem and poster are not included in the pre­sent volume.

Languages in the Magic Lantern

12 David Edelstadt, “At Strife” (Yiddish, GP).

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16 Except as far as Arabic script is concerned. Iqbal, for one, wrote poems in Persian as well as Urdu. 17 Ignazio Buttitta, “Language and Dialect” (Sicilian, IP). 18 Ribka Sibhatu, “My Abebà” (IP), written in Italian but including Tigrinya words. 19 Manon Nolin, “The Land of my Language” (GP), written in French as a hymn to Innu. 20 In “Heights of Macchu Picchu” (Spanish, IP), Pablo Neruda begs vanished Inca locutors to “speak through [his] speech, and through [his] blood.” 21 Nadeema Musthan, “I Have Occupied the Space” (En­glish and Xhosa, IP): “En­glish was my bitch”; cf. Aimé Césaire, using French to curse “the white cries of white death” (“Return to My Native Land,” GP). 22 Kyriakos Charalambides, “Ardana II” (IP): in a dream, a Greek Cypriot visits the h ­ ouse of his birth; he and the Turkish ­woman who now lives ­there can communicate only in En­glish. 23 Cf. Shaul Tchernichovsky and Rashid Hussein on the land one is hoping to find while the other mourns its loss (Hebrew and Arabic, IP); or Natan Alterman and Mourid Barghouti’s symmetrical uses of irony, as one unveils the sacrifice on which the Jewish state was founded (“The Silver Platter,” IP), and the other a Palestinian’s wish for the luxury of “paying no attention to history” (“It’s Also Fine,” GP). 24 Marceline Desbordes-­Valmore, “A ­Woman’s Letter” (French, IP); Ma­ya Angelou, “Still I Rise” (En­glish, IP); Makhosazana Xaba, “Tongues of Their ­Mothers” (En­glish and Setswana, GP). 25 See Ivan Gundulic and Shamsur Rahman’s respective “Ode to Freedom” and “Oh Freedom” (Croatian, GP; Bengali, IP). 26 In Alterman’s “The Silver Platter,” two young soldiers are asked “who [they are]” by the nation itself. 27 Verner von Heidenstam’s “Fellow Citizens” (Swedish, GP) are not made of “gentlemen” only. Paruyr Sevak’s “We Are Few but We Are Called Armenians” (Armenian, GP) do not put themselves “above anyone.” 28 Gambo Hawaja, “­Today Only the Fool Rejects NEPU” (Hausa, GP); Saniya Salih, “Cure Your Slavery with Patience” (Arabic, IP). 29 Ọbádélé Kambon, “Fight, My Friend, Fight” (Wolof, GP). 30 Vahan Tekeyan’s “Constantinople” (Armenian, IP); Aryeh Sivan’s “To Live in the Land of Israel” (Hebrew, GP); Kwadwo Gyasi Nkita-­Mayala’s “Remember” (En­glish and Twi, GP). 31 See Nicolae Coande’s “A Collective Passport” (Romanian, IP), where a “national bible” remains “unopened.” 32 See Miklós Radnóti’s (Hungarian, IP), to which their Serbo-­Croatian title adds yet another layer of irony. 33 Georgios Souris, “The Greek” (Modern Greek, IP). 34 The modern history of Eu­rope, for example, tends to make language a key part of national identity (at least in Eu­rope). In 2017, a limit was set when linguists and other intellectuals from Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia issued a “Declaration” that acknowledges all existing variants within a “standard language” common to the four parties—­a nd denounces ongoing country-­based, nationalistic efforts to separate them. 35 A few of them ­were actually translations from (self-­aware and self-­critical) En­glish originals. 36 One random consequence is that no language from Scandinavia or from the western part of the Balkans appears on an “individual” poster.

François Cornilliat

37 A student-­curator had signed up for Creole; she had to drop out due to curricular conflicts.

36

38 Which says, “Make of us / the ­thing that most suits you. / This is all we have to reply, / Señores” (The Sun Unwound: Original Texts from Occupied Amer­i­ca, trans. Edward Dorn and Gordon Brotherston [Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 1999], 43). Of ­those few (translated) words, we cannot entirely make “what most suits us.” 39 This pro­cess continued with the effort to secure the rights to reproduce poems in this volume: random or motivated denials further modified the proj­ect’s outlook.

40 See Chidinma Irene Nwoye, “African Languages Are the Fastest Growing in the United States,” Quartz Africa, 7 October  2019, https://­qz​.­com​/­a frica​/­1723269​/­a frican​-­languages​-­a re​-­fastest​-­g rowing​-­in​-­the​ -­u nited​-­states​/­. 41 The GPs feature two poems in Spanish, by Nicolás Guillén (Cuba) and Julia de Burgos (Puerto Rico); one in French, by Aimé Césaire (Martinique); and one in En­glish, by Derek Walcott (Saint Lucia). 42 Guarnaccia, Immigration, Diversity and Student Journeys.

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43 The Language Engagement Proj­ect’s Research Group has produced the first scientific survey of languages at Rutgers, encompassing all students, faculty, and staff. Even then, the impressive, enlightening result captures only a moment in time.

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3 POETRIES, POLITICS, AND PRACTICUM

Atif Akin

ATIF AKIN

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poetries –­ politics, Professor Mary Shaw’s brilliant idea, came to the Art & Design Department (formerly known as Visual Arts) at the Mason Gross School of the Arts as a gracious proposal for a collaboration at a time when it was needed most. It was urgent; poetry and ­collaboration, interaction, and communication w ­ ere po­liti­cally, academically, locally, and globally necessary. What might have been seen as a romantic, eclectic, and extravagant proj­ect a de­cade ago seemed now to be imperative in an increasingly polarizing and exclusive, xenophobic po­liti­cal environment. My first meeting with Professor Shaw to discuss the idea was a few months ­after the 2017 ­Women’s March and ­after the travel ban was issued through a White House executive order. Professor Shaw passionately told me about the class that she wanted to dedicate to po­liti­cal poetry. Through cross-­ cultural and interdisciplinary collaboration, Shaw wanted to heal some of ­these wounds and catalyze cross-­campus po­liti­cal dialogue. Embarking on this proj­ect with Professor Shaw was one of ­those distinctly Rutgers miracles in which a French lit­er­a­ture professor and a professor of design can work on an ambitious, large-­scale proj­ect across an equally im­mense campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The proj­ect was built on more than a hundred poems chosen by the School of Arts and Sciences “student-­curators,” as Shaw calls them, in her class. Each student selected poems from dif­fer­ent periods and places in the world and then analyzed and contextualized the works to create an informative design brief to aid the designers at Mason Gross in their creative interpretations. ­These files had a bilingual copy of each poem, a summary of its historical and po­liti­cal context, a description of the poet’s life, and a paragraph on what the student-­ curator saw in the poem. Designers in my Design Practicum class

Poetries, Politics, and Practicum

studied t­ hese letters from their counter­parts and researched the visual culture of each poem’s time and geography as they built a visual landscape to enclose the selected works. Despite crossing over university educational borders and a status quo for disagreements between editors and designers, t­ here was only a positive collaborative spirit between the sixteen lit­er­a­ture student-­curators and eleven visual designers throughout the entire pro­cess. The posters (fig. 3.1) ­were displayed on the walls of the new Academic Building (College Ave­nue Campus) and have become so beloved by the community of the building that they recently have been reinstalled in a permanent installation. Visitors have the opportunity to view ­these posters that feature poems from around the world and throughout the ages, representing the many languages spoken and studied at Rutgers–­New Brunswick. Each one of the posters represents a result of unique and thoughtful design pro­cesses that reflect on the structure and geographic histories of the poems. The remainder of this essay gives the reader a glimpse into the diversity of robust student work produced in this context. Examining a poster designed by each student, I demonstrate the cross-­cultural learning experience and interdisciplinary working environment that this proj­ect provided our students with across campus. In examining their work, I celebrate their remarkable ingenuity and creative spirit. One of the poems that struck me most is in the form of a haiku and belonged to an anonymous kamikaze pi­lot in Japan. The unknown author was perhaps even younger than our current students at the time of the Second World War. Ryan Farrell (MGSA 2019) designed this poster acknowledging his juvenescence, approaching such a dark moment in history with a light heart, thus making an additional po­liti­cal statement at a visual level. Exhibiting a similar critical attention to the historical complexity of the poem’s subject, Rawan Haroun (MGSA 2018) designed a poster ­after “The ­Will of Life” by Abu Al-­ Qasim Al-­Shabbi (fig.  3.2), one of the most highly regarded poems in modern Arabic poetry (it was also used in the Tunisian national anthem). She had a conversation with the curator about the importance of the poem in the recent Arab uprising, and that set the tone for her visual landscape. Looking critically at con­temporary events, her design was heavi­ly inspired by the image of solidarity in the Arab Spring, the series of uprisings and rebellions targeted against the government throughout the Arab world in the 2010s. Kristen Miranda (MGSA 2019) focused on “Histories of the Nations,” a poem by Srirangam Srinivasa Rao, along with four pieces she designed for this proj­ect. Srinivasa Rao is a Telugu poet and lyricist, and known as the first modern Telugu poet, shifting poetry from traditional mythological and religious themes to more con­temporary issues around him. His focus was on everyday life, humanity, and history, and Kristen’s use of an image of a deserted landscape was a reference to the history of mankind that is emphasized in the poem. Ma­ya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise” evokes a dynamic, triumphant, and power­ful message, as she continually swears that despite adversities she w ­ ill continue to rise. Devon Monaghan (MGSA 2018) skillfully expressed this determined rigor in her typographic style that gradually increases in both size and poignant emphasis. Through her illustration she carefully negotiates Ma­ya Angelou’s sentiments in regard to race and gender.

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Figure 3.1: Installation view, 2017, College Ave­nue Academic Building, Rutgers. Courtesy of Kara Donaldson.

Atif Akin

Facing: Figure 3.2: Abu Al-­Qasim Al-­Shabbi, “The ­Will of Life.” Poster design by Rawan Haroun, 2017.

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Poetries, Politics, and Practicum

Atif Akin

Figure 3.3: Visual identity system created by Jocelyn Orante and designers in the Rutgers Design Practicum class, 2017.

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“Mid-­Autumn Moon” by Su Shi is visualized by Jocelyn Orante (MGSA 2018) with a strong reference to the title of the poem. Seemingly less po­liti­cal than the other ones, Jocelyn subtly implies a po­liti­cal reading as she plays with the concept of the yin and yang evoked through the moon from the perspective of an intoxicated person. Jocelyn also led the collective efforts to create a dynamic visual identity system for the ­whole proj­ect. Designers in the Design Practicum class created a logotype system that accommodated thirty-­t wo languages along with En­glish in a dynamic yet consistent way. The visual identity (fig. 3.3) spun across the posters, the exhibition, the website, and the colloquium on its program, films, and screens and eventually in this book itself. Melissa Perdomo (MGSA 2019) reflected on Georgios Souris’s sarcastic poem “The Greek” by way of her illustration and image pro­cessing that re-­creates the dramatic coffee-­spilling scene described in the poem. The mise-­en-­scène that Melissa created perfectly reflects the sarcastic and slapstick comedic character of the poem. The humor hides immediate po­liti­cal references, while pulling the reader into the monologue and immersing them in the story. “Battlefield” by August Stramm, a Prus­sian poet of the ­Great War period, is visualized by Sunhith Reddy (MGSA 2020) through an image created by war-­traumatized German Expressionist artist Otto Dix. Sunhith’s lit­er­a­ture counterpart Jessica Fitzner (SAS 2019)

Following page verso: Figure 3.4: Nazik al-­Malaika, “Cholera.” Poster design by Opinder Singh, 2017. Recto: Figure 3.5: Heinrich Heine, “Warning.” Poster design by Nicole S­ ullivan, 2017.

Poetries, Politics, and Practicum

chose visceral words in German to emphasize on the poster. Sunhith brilliantly used vari­ous typographic techniques to accentuate them as Dix’s haunting image peeks through the background. Nazik al-­Malaika’s poem “Cholera” (fig. 3.4) is a revolution in Arabic poetry. Written ­after the cholera epidemic in Baghdad in 1947, the poem directly refers to the horrors of the crisis and seeks justice. Designer Opinder Singh (MGSA 2019) took an ingenious approach to his interpretation. His design juxtaposes a colonial typographic aesthetic inspired by con­temporary comics against a magnified, microscopic image of the cholera bacteria to create a direct and satirical look at a deadly epidemic. In another example of the creative use of type and typography, Nicole S­ ullivan (MGSA 2018) juxtaposed blackletter typeface with illustrations inspired by a very popu­lar ­children’s book in mid-­nineteenth-­century Germany called Der Struwwelpeter while designing the poster for “Warnung” by Heinrich Heine (fig. 3.5). Evoking the historical typeset and German literary tradition, her design highlights the strength of this poem in its multilayered ironic compositions of type and illustrations. The dark subjects of ­these ostensibly lighthearted ­children’s illustrations are seemingly enhanced when they are removed from their original context and heighten the foreboding tone of the poem’s “warning.” Jessica Weisser’s (MGSA 2018) rendering of Konstantin Pavlov’s poem “Capriccio for Goya” is based on a set of eighty prints published as an ­album in 1799 by the Spanish artist Francisco de Goya as suggested by Jessica’s lit­er­a­ture counterpart Kris Vassilev. The Capriccios are conceived as an artistic criticism of the con­temporary Spanish society that aims to deride vari­ous members of the ruling class. Jessica laid out the stanzas in a three-­dimensionally warped way that visualizes the whimsical and grotesque surrealism of the poem and complements Goya’s macabre subject ­matter. Jia Hang Zhang’s (MGSA 2020) uncanny figurative illustrations set the tone for Luis Cernuda’s “Impression of Exile” (fig. 3.6). Zhang’s design reflects on the poem’s protagonist and his shadow. Our character in exile is in gray as the rest of the space surrounding the protagonist, the space of exile, and the colors get more vibrant as our gaze moves up to a unique Spanish word “Impresion!” Fi­nally, the designers collectively came up with the idea of typesetting some of the poems on solid-­color background posters (fig. 3.7) in which the colors fall onto the equidistant hue values in the color spectrum, as in Ellsworth Kelly’s installation titled Spectrum with reference to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s early color theory that is rooted in poetry. ­These posters ­were also exhibited in the Academic Building along with the posters outlined above and as a group provided a dif­fer­ent visual effect against the singular contemplation of each distinctively designed poster. I would like to thank to professor Mary Shaw for inviting young designers at the Mason Gross School of the Arts and myself to this timely and thoughtful proj­ect, and, to quote her, “The hanging of the posters across three floors and many departments and

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Facing: Figure 3.6: Luis Cernuda, “Impression of Exile.” Poster design by Jia Hang Zhang, 2017.

Atif Akin

programs reflects the exhibition’s central intent: the simultaneous honoring of diversity and unity through the appreciation and practice of multilingual expression in poetry and art.” I also would like to acknowledge the efforts and support of the then-­chair of the Art & Design Department, Professor Gerry Beegan, associate professor of design Jacqueline Thaw, who initiated the idea of Design Practicum as a class in the curriculum in 2013, and Danielle Lessovitz, who led her students at the Rutgers Film Lab to document the pro­cess and interview the curators and the designers of the posters to create short films that ­were shown during the exhibit.

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Figure 3.7: Installation view (color spectrum), 2017, College Ave­nue Academic Building, Rutgers.

Atif Akin

Courtesy of Kara Donaldson.

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the original poetries –­ politics exhibition celebrated the beauty of languages through visual interpretations of power­ f ul po­liti­cal poems from around the world and across time. As the gradu­ ate assistant for this proj­ect and the French Department’s student-­ curator tasked with coordinating contributions across several languages, I had direct insight into the challenges of realizing this exhibition and a platform to think about the relationship between both poetry and images, as well as poetry and politics. For Plato, the poet expresses the divine and thus should be estranged from po­ liti­ cal engagement. Consequently, for the phi­ los­ o­ pher, the po­liti­cal actions result from debates, while poetry deals with the effects of ­those po­liti­cal outcomes. Yet the poem does not need to copy “real­ ity” to be po­liti­cal. It actually uses its own language, breaking the barriers of time and space to ­free the poet’s voice. Poetic language can then oppose the brutality of the world in a meta­phorical way and focus on the nature and the meaning of being as the poet experiences it. Leonardo da Vinci once famously said, “Painting is a poetry that is seen rather than felt and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.”1 If the poet sees and reveals hidden truths, the same parallel can be drawn between words and images, actions and emotions. In analyzing Abdellatif Laâbi and Omar Khayyam’s poems, I suggest that poetry becomes “action” by means of language. The action of writing becomes a way to argue against oppression and the suppression of ideas. Indeed, words and images work together to protest the status quo. The artists do not directly shape or improve ­human conditions; that pro­cess is the task of politicians. However, the verbal

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action of the poet generates awareness, initiates ethical discussions, and in time transforms society’s be­hav­iors ­toward achieving justice.

Thinking about Poetry and Visual Art For this experimentation, students had the freedom to broaden the definition of poetry to the original sense of the Greek word poïen, “to create.” Some selected songs, excerpts from plays, or other kinds of prose. The goal was to focus on the emotions the words carried and the images they evoked. ­Because each reader/listener of a poem has a unique interpretation of its words and rhythms, we made sure to allow for multiple perspectives and did not impose a singular interpretation of how the visual translation should appear. Several perspectives came together to create each poster-­poem. Indeed, the complexity of this proj­ect relied on a connection established between three stakeholders: the poet, the designer, and the School of Arts and Sciences (SAS) student. The latter prepared a brief containing notes and translations for each poem and communicating their visions to their design-­student counter­parts. Consequently, this multilayered collaboration sparked its own surprises. While the students chose the poem and sketched out their interpretation, the designers had their own creative visions. I found the perfect example of this intricate pro­cess of translating the poem’s emotions into visual imagery in the poster I created for a poem by Abdellatif Laâbi (fig. 4.1), a con­temporary Moroccan poet who founded the journal Souffles in 1966. This literary review was ultimately banned by King Hassan II and led to the poet’s eight years of imprisonment. Laâbi often evokes what he believes is poetry’s desperate need both to bear witness to injustices and attacks against freedom and to serve as an outlet to express his inner emotions.2 His poem “Quatre ans,” written while he was imprisoned, intertwines meta­phorical language and precise descriptions making the poem feel like an a­ ctual experience.3 From the first verse, the reader feels the poet’s deep sense of loss. on m’arracha à toi à mes camarades à mon peuple [. . .] on m’interdit les livres que j’aime les nouvelles la musique

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I was snatched from you

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from my comrades from my ­people [. . .] they deprived me of Facing: Figure 4.1: Abdellatif Laâbi, “Four Years.” Poster design by Jessica Weisser, 2017.

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THE INTRICACY OF TRANSLATING POETRIES –­ POLITICS INTO VISUAL ART

the books I love of news of ­music The poet’s downward fall into isolation is expressed visually in the poem’s literal structure. Indeed, the loss designed graphically in descending lines is a poignant rendering of the poet’s aching loneliness and hardship. He is snatched from his beloved wife and the ­whole world, deprived of words, ­music, and any relief. However, by not punctuating his poems (not even with a final period), Laâbi’s words, like himself, defy confinement. By keeping the sentences open he implies an unending freedom. Despite the poem’s simplicity, it is difficult to escape the harsh images of abuse that Laâbi endured as he wrote this poem from prison. Thus, in considering the poster’s design, I was inspired by the colors and images implicitly inscribed within the text. I envisioned placing the poem in a dark corner of the poster with a distant ray of light symbolizing the act of keeping ­people away from knowledge and creativity. I also pictured a gradation of gray surrounding the poem, printed in a rust color, meant to symbolize a sign of a slow deterioration. As for the images, I ­imagined the number four written several times in red in En­glish, French, and Arabic, illustrating the poet’s absence: “on apposa un numéro / sur le dos de mon absence” (they placed a number / on the back of my absence). I envisioned barbed wires in dif­fer­ent shades of gray with droplets of red representing Laâbi’s physical and psychological tortures: et pour te voir un quart d’heure par semaine à travers deux grilles séparées par un couloir ils étaient encore là buvant le sang de nos paroles and let me see you fifteen minutes a week through two sets of bars separated by an alley and they ­were always ­there

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drinking the blood of our words

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I anticipated a dramatic contrast between the vivid, bloody red and the dull gray shadows to signify the poet’s suffering and defiance. This distinction in colors would emphasize the disparity between the poet’s harsh circumstances and his need for artistic expression. As the body needs blood to exist, similarly the poet needs words to exist. In fact, the poet commits an ultimate act of rebellion while in prison by putting his emotions into writing, using his words as a testament to his agony.

Interestingly, the student-­designer, Jessica Weisser, did not envision the same contrast and created a uniform poster with lighter colors. At first glance, the poster seemed too subdued, somewhat peaceful, and maybe too gray (which I recognized I had insisted on). I was disoriented by the lack of emotion seemingly absent from the design. However, once I had given the designer’s vision more thought, I saw that we both had placed the poet in an environment of uniform conformity, where he could not assert his ideas, and where he slowly dis­appeared into an immaterial pattern. While my vision was more pictorial, the designer’s perception was surprisingly more abstract, but despite this difference of vision, we both felt his anguish. Throughout the exhibition, many of the poems paradoxically expressed common but diversely experienced feelings of pain, discrimination, despair, and isolation often linked to social and po­liti­cal issues. However, one might won­der if all the poems treated in the posters could be considered po­liti­cal poems.

Just as poetry, through its etymology, is broadly defined, the term “politics,” from the Greek word politiká, can encompass all ­things related to the state and its management. How then are we to understand the relationship between politics and poetry? Between state affairs and the expression of emotions? For Laâbi, poetry provides proof that we are alive; it follows the ­human condition and its evolution.4 He insists that poetry is attached to historical memory and to the sociopo­liti­cal moment in which it is created. By writing, the poet expresses who we are as ­human beings. He is Plato’s divine who reveals universal truths. As such, ­there can be a form of mystical power attributed to poetic language. Spirituality and religion are often sources of inspiration for the poet. Even modern and secular poets, such as Laâbi and Baudelaire, still reference religion, demonstrating how beauty and de­cadence coexist with and need not contradict traditions of religious restraint; their writings point to the need for sociocultural change. One such work that explores the paradox of spiritual asceticism and beauty is the poster-­poem of Omar Khayyam’s “Rubayi” (fig. 4.2). Khayyam (1048–1131) was born in an Ira­nian province ruled ­under the Muslim Turks and the authority of Caliphate in Baghdad. First absorbed by astronomy and mathe­matics, he ultimately became well known for his Rubaiyat in the Occident. His poetry has been interpreted in many ways; however, it essentially shows a rupture with religion by rejecting the idea of life ­after death (central in Islam) and insisting on embracing hedonistic de­cadence. Indeed, the materiality of the body and the rhe­toric of plea­sure are at the heart of Khayyam’s poetry. He praises love and lust through recurring evocations of wine, drunkenness, and w ­ omen’s bodies.5 Mina Khavandi selected and prepared a quatrain that illustrates the poet’s desires and expresses the meaning of life through the lens of a clay jug:6 ‫این کوزه چو من عاشق زاری بوده است‬ ‫در بند سر زلف نگاری بوده است‬

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Facing: Figure 4.2: Omar Khayyam, “Rubayi.” Poster design by Devon Monaghan, 2017.

‫این دسته که بر گردن او میبینی‬ ‫دستیست که برگردن یاری بوده است‬ This clay jug was once a poor lover, just like me, A lover, who was in love with his beloved; This ­handle that you see around the neck of the clay jug

Khayyam delineates an amorous personification of the jug to express his consuming love. The incarnate ­handle of the jug is alive like the arm embracing the beloved, drawing a parallel with the earthen jug fusing the soil with the image and spirit of the h ­ uman body. He appeals to the reader to welcome sensual pleasures. For Khayyam ­these natu­ral feelings are not opposed to the Divine but bestowed by God and should thus be embraced, not banned. Consequently, for her poster’s design, Mina Khavandi envisioned “a repre­ sen­ta­tion of the h ­ uman body comparable to the clay vase, a superimposition of the two where the colors of the body and the clay are mixed and the lines bordering the two are more blurry than clear.”7 Once again, the two posters’ creators departed slightly in their vision: a repre­sen­ta­ tional vision versus an abstract one. Indeed, student-­designer Devon Monaghan took a meta­phorical approach to translating the poet’s longings. Curling the text into a wavy texture, she managed to evoke the curves of a body floating like the spirit that has both consumed and been consumed by the poet. The significance of shaping the text in this manner is strengthened by the dif­fer­ent shades of orange, which remind me of the warmth of burning love. In the poster orange radiates a feeling of light and fire, spirituality and sensuality, that conveys the anguishing desire of the poet and the transcendent quest of the poem. In the Poetries –­Politics exhibition, all the posters have a story to tell. They illustrate both individual experiences and universal moods throughout time and space. The poets gave us a glimpse into the sociopo­liti­cal prob­lems of their eras, and our proj­ect highlighted the commonality among ­these diverse situations, as well as the continual challenge to translate them both verbally and visually. Through this work of collaboration and visual translation, each poem’s legacy lives on in the new understandings unearthed, interpreted, and illustrated for new audiences at Rutgers and beyond.

NOTES 1 Trevor A. Bryan, “The Art of Comprehension,” The Education Digest 79, no. 6 (1 May 2014): 47. 2 See the interview at http://­quarterlyconversation​.­com​/­i n​-­praise​-­of​-­defeat​-­by​-­abdellatif​-­laabi. 3 Abdellatif Laâbi, “Quatre ans / “Four Years,” in In Praise of Defeat, poems by Abdellatif Laâbi, trans. Donald Nicholson-­Smith (Brooklyn, NY: First Archipelago Books, 2016), 52–53.

THE INTRICACY OF TRANSLATING POETRIES –­ POLITICS INTO VISUAL ART

Was once the lover’s arm around the neck of his beloved.

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4 Manou Farine, “Poésie et Afrique(s),” France Culture, 3 March  2017, www​.­franceculture​.f­ r​/e­ missions​ /­poesie​-­et​-­a insi​-­de​-­suite​/­poesie​-­et​-­a friques. 5 This information regarding the po­liti­cal background and the context of the poem’s publication comes from my colleague Mina Khavandi’s design brief and research. 6 Omar Khayyam, “Rubayi 15  / The 15th  quatrain,” in Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (excerpt), ed. Edward Fitzgerald (Tehran: Eghbal Printing and Publishing Organ­ization), 16. Unpublished translation of this ruba’i (quatrain) from the original Persian by Maryam Borjian. For the first printed version of our poster, we actually used Fitzgerald’s translation. However, further along in the proj­ect, we de­cided to use the more literal translation, h ­ ere cited by Maryam Borjian (a Farsi instructor at Rutgers). We de­cided that Fitzgerald’s translation was too loose to convey the original meaning of the poem, which is not unusual in the translation of poetry of other times and other places. Interestingly the more modern French version, cited above, translated by Armand Robin (Publication Poésie/Gallimard, 1994, 14), also takes ample freedom with Khayyam’s text.

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7 This suggestion regarding the visual interpretation of the poem comes from Mina Khavandi’s design brief and research.

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5 HOPE AND DESPAIR Po­liti­cal Poets in Revolutionary Socie­ties

I would like to dedicate this essay to my “Pappou,” my inspiration for pursuing this self-­enriching and fulfilling endeavor.

in the fall of 2017, I served as student-­curator of Greek, Armenian, and Turkish poetry for the Poetries –­Politics exhibition. As I was a po­liti­cal science major with minors in French, Modern Greek, and economics, this proj­ect’s fusion between language, culture, and politics naturally captured my fascination. In this essay, I explore how two poems, Anna Akhmatova’s “Every­thing Is Plundered, Betrayed, Sold” and Georgios Souris’s “The Greek,” demonstrate how dif­fer­ent ­people from dif­fer­ent nations, amid censorship and tumultuous sociopo­liti­ cal events, expressed common themes of hope and despair. Reflecting upon my perspective as a student of history and relying upon the diligent work of student-­curators Valentina Melikhova and Konstantina Damvakaris, I analyze both the poems in their historical context and the designs of ­these poster-­poems. Considering the visual aspect of this proj­ect reveals not only new insights into the meaning of ­these par­tic­u­lar works, but also the prevalence of universal ­human sentiments that transcend geo­graph­i­cal bound­aries. “Every­thing Is Plundered, Betrayed, Sold” (“Всё Расхищено, Предано, Продано”) (fig.  5.1) was written during the Rus­sian Civil War (1918–1922). A dark period in Rus­sian history, the conflict was not just between Reds and Whites but included a co­ali­tion of Allied forces that intervened in support of the White anti-­Bolshevik movement. Despite the intervention, Lenin and the Bolsheviks w ­ ere victorious and used the presence of foreign militaries in Rus­sia as a pretext to rid the country of supposed “enemies.” The horror that followed is known as the Red Terror, a deadly maelstrom that provides the macabre setting for Anna Akhmatova’s poem.1

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The poem was written a­ fter her recently divorced husband, Nikolay Gumeliev, became a victim of this terror. In 1921, he was arrested by the Cheka and summarily executed for his anticommunist views.2 It was the tragic deaths of Gumeliev and her friend, Nadezhda Rykova, that compelled Akhmatova to portray the chaos that consumed revolutionary Rus­sia.3 Born into an aristocratic f­ amily, Akhmatova was conservative, not only in her po­liti­cal views but also in her verse.4 She economizes her language, using potent vocabulary to highlight inner turmoil rather than drawn-­out abstract phrasing. The opening line, “Every­thing is plundered, betrayed, sold,” clearly summarizes what had become of the sociopo­liti­cal situation in Rus­sia. Akhmatova uses power­f ul meta­phors to personify her feelings. To say that “Misery gnaws to the bone” is to suggest that the Bolsheviks are physically destroying the flesh of ­people, as a predatory animal would do to its prey. She describes “death” as a “black wing” or even a bird of prey. This dismal and swift death (which had just seized her husband and friend) could swoop down at any moment in 1920s Rus­sia, as the Bolsheviks defined the “rule of law.” Despite t­ hese conditions, Akhmatova changes the tone to one of hope in the second stanza. Even with the upheaval of civil war, she turns our focus to what makes the world “miraculous.” Although the Bolsheviks may destroy ­family, friends, and possessions, they cannot prevent the arrival of spring, the season of hope, which is visually represented by budding cherry blossoms. The poet acknowledges this rebirth when she looks up at the “transparent skies,” which “glitter with new galaxies,” further developing the striking contrast between the death of winter and the hope of spring. Similarly, in the third stanza, she concludes with a paradoxical reference to hope and destruction, stating, “the miraculous comes so close to the ruined.” ­Here she evokes an enduring if unknown remnant of faith, suggesting that the evil that has gripped her world w ­ ill not ultimately destroy every­thing sacred. The poem’s combination of faith and despair reveals the oxymoronic nature of this period, that despite experiencing such desperation, p ­ eople found solace in the intangible feeling of hope, a power­f ul force known to all. Further enhancing Akhmatova’s messages and themes is the poster’s design. The scene is morose, as demonstrated by the dark background, the masses of displaced ­people walking by destroyed cities, and the gray ashes that blanket the atmosphere. However, designer Ryan Farrell brilliantly rendered the details of stanzas 2 and 3, when he depicts the gradual transitioning of the embers of obliterated buildings into cherry blossoms. The metamorphosis from death to life captures the complexities of Akhmat­ ova’s experience and her belief in the ephemeral nature of destruction, war, and carnage. Eventually t­ here w ­ ill be peace; Akhmatova’s hope, and that of the Rus­sian ­people, cannot be destroyed. Moreover, as Akhmatova speaks to the sentiments of her countrymen, she also keeps the memory of her close friend, Nadezhda Rykova, alive.5

Hope and Despair

Facing: Figure 5.1: Anna Akhmatova, “Every­thing Is Plundered, Betrayed, Sold.” Poster design by Ryan Farrell, 2017.

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The artist furthermore captures Akhmatova’s sanguine attitude in his interpretation of the path. Although the trail starts out gray and bleak, the designer has the ash-­ covered pathway transform into a pinkish hue. This trail of blossoms leads to a radiating white light that the p ­ eople walk ­toward while traversing beneath the multitudinous stars that glisten in the vast sky above. All of this signifies that a bright ­future lies ahead ­after the chaos. Akhmatova’s observations of sociopo­liti­cal events emphasize not only the cyclical nature of life but also the tumultuous nature of Rus­sian history. Even though the Rus­ sian Revolution and the Bolshevik coup d’état ­were unparalleled experiences for Akhmatova, she understood how Rus­sia’s history had long been fraught with po­liti­cal turmoil. Therefore, the past could inform Akhmatova of Rus­sia’s potential ­f uture. She states in the last stanza that “the miraculous comes so close to the ruined, dirty houses—­ something not known to anyone at all, but wild in our breast for centuries,” suggesting that Rus­sia has experienced sociopo­liti­cal instability before and that harmony therefore ­will always be on the verge of a chasm. In a peculiar yet resolute way, Akhmatova is consoling her readers, intimating that this is neither the first nor the last time Rus­sia and her ­people would endure hardships, press on, and emerge stronger than before. Similar to Akhmatova’s recounts of revolutionary Rus­sia, Georgios Souris also relies on poetry to explore the po­liti­cal state of Greece. Souris, often hailed as “the modern Aristophanes,” is one of the most iconic Greek satirists and po­liti­cal commentators in Modern Greek history. Souris is most notable for having written the satirical newspaper O Romios from 1883 to 19186 and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Lit­er­a­ture in 1906.7 Although po­liti­cally active, Souris was not “loyal to any par­tic­u­lar po­liti­cal system or ideology” as he ritualistically reminded his audience in his journal: “I w ­ ill be demo­ cratic in some instances, but I w ­ ill also be a monarchist. I w ­ ill be anything I please. Sometimes I, too, search for revolution, but even so, to kings I ­will take off my hat.”8 While Souris’s and Akhmatova’s poems may appear dissimilar, as one was a prominent satirist and the other an influential member of the sober Acmeist movement,9 both share impor­tant technical and personal characteristics. As Konstantina Damvakaris notes, both Souris and Akhmatova avoid “ambiguous . . . ​[and] flowery language” and “hold their poems up like mirrors reflecting the events taking place in their respective countries.”10 Furthermore, both poets w ­ ere targets of government censorship. Akhmatova’s description of the communists, the gulag system, and the oppressive nature of the Bolshevik regime had her ­under close watch; her image was not rehabilitated ­until the 1980s, with the advent of glasnost and perestroika.11 Similarly, although not to such an extreme degree, Souris’s commentary on the actions, or lack thereof, of the Greek government during the 1897 Cretan rebellion caused a forty-­day suspension of his newspaper.12 Despite censorship, both poets persisted: “The mea­sures taken to silence them did not succeed.”13 The poem “The Greek” (“Ὁ Ῥωμηός”) (fig. 5.2) was in fact prompted by the plight of the Cretans in the revolt of 1878 and the Cretan rebellion in 1897, when Greeks on the island rebelled against their Ottoman Turk occupiers. While the Cretans appealed to the Greek government for enosis (­union with mainland Greece), their efforts w ­ ere thwarted Facing: Figure 5.2: Georgios Souris, “The Greek.” Poster design by Melissa Perdomo, 2017.

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by the very powers that assisted Greeks in their War for In­de­pen­dence in 1821. ­Great Britain, France, and Rus­sia successfully dissuaded the Greek government from intervening on behalf of their brethren, so as to not antagonize the Ottomans. One account describes that during the Cretan rebellion of 1897, “while Cretans ­were slaughtered, the [Greek] royal f­ amily and the high society of Athens w ­ ere entertained on the lavish yacht of a Rus­sian admiral who ostensibly was ­there to aid the island of Crete.”14 The memory of the Greek War for In­de­pen­dence was still fresh in the consciousness of the Greek p ­ eople, and therefore the monarchy and the government, having abandoned enosis with Crete more than once, ­were severely discredited. As an observer, Souris encapsulates this sense of reformist patriotic underswell by setting the poem at a kafeneion (the café), a place that many Greeks now christen Η Μικρή Βουλή (the Small Parliament). Like the En­glish coffee­houses of the eigh­teenth ­century and the salons of revolutionary France, the kafeneion is a place where commoners can philosophize politics, debate current events, and pontificate idealistic solutions.15 In contrast to the somber tone of Akhmatova, Souris’s poem superficially expresses a petty grievance or a “tempest in a tea cup” (or in this case, a demitasse), which is enhanced by designer Melissa Perdomo’s focus on the spilled coffee. However, the poem is at once a serious and a satirical critique of the shortcomings of a relatively new country. The first two stanzas introduce the poet, who is relaxed and enjoying his surroundings, as if he w ­ ere a bey with many thrones to accompany his extremities (occupying extra chairs for each of his two legs and his hat).16 While all seems peaceful, the man erupts into a tirade in the second stanza, assuming a ­bitter mocking tone that ­will dominate the rest of the poem. It is not ­until the last line of the poem, following the accidental overturn of the coffee cup and a brawl with the coffee shop owner, that Souris provides a sudden, yet comical, decrescendo to the escalating tension. In this poem, the theme of victimhood at the hands of greater power politics in the region is pervasive. A major episode in Greek history magnifying this feeling came in the aftermath of the creation of the Greek state with the patronage and supervision of ­England, France, and Rus­sia in the early 1800s. Early nineteenth-­century Greek party politics ­were not only characterized by partisan differences but divided between which ­great powers they would emulate. While ideologies are usually couched in the language of national po­liti­cal considerations, the ideologies of the Greek po­liti­cal parties ­were molded by the ­great powers sponsoring them. For example, Greek radicals who favored a republican form of government sought the patronage and aid of France and w ­ ere thus called the French Party. Effectively, the first po­liti­cal parties in Greece ­were not focused on internalizing national politics for solely advancing Greek national interests. It is clear Souris dislikes foreign powers meddling in Greek domestic politics and believes, with revulsion, that his country exchanged the yoke of the Ottoman for the Eu­ro­pe­an.17 The distaste for ­great power intervention into Greek affairs is evident in the poem’s fourth stanza: “I curse the En­glish, the Rus­sians, and anyone e­ lse I desire.” This disenchantment for alleged outside benefactors has caused modern Greeks to feel they have a contested relationship with foreign nations as well as their own history. While they may feel frustrated, Souris might remind his compatriots of the foreboding lines in the Greek national anthem: “You got on the road alone and you came back alone. Doors do not

open easily when a needy hand is knocking.”18 In other words, only Greeks themselves can look ­after their own interests and cannot trust such a task to foreign powers. Moreover, while Souris is willing to criticize foreign influence, he believes that ultimately the prob­lem lies with the Greek elite, who not only allow outside powers to steer the ship of state but do so apparently in an inviting manner. Souris’s opening diatribe starts with, “I begin to loudly curse politicians and politics.” This is significant ­because it not only demonstrates who the poet believes is principally to blame for the woes of Greece but also exemplifies his disillusionment with the po­liti­cal leaders in Athens. To console himself, the poet brings his “mind [back] to [the] national heroes: Diako and Karaisko,” notable individuals who fought in the Greek War for In­de­pen­dence and whom Souris considers to be patriots, unsullied by the politics of the day. Even though Souris derides the elite and po­liti­cal establishment, he also expresses the average Greek’s frustration at being unable to influence the country’s ­future. While the poet feels that Greece’s impressive history sets it on a higher pedestal than o ­ thers, he understands that the country’s position in the arena of international politics is not comparable. The purpose of ­these tirades, uttered by a singular yet representative man, is to articulate the gap between what Greece should be and what it actually is. Furthermore, the poet at the café finds it agonizing that even though Greece fought a costly war for in­de­pen­dence, it still cannot exercise the sovereignty he believes it deserves. The rut that the Greek ­people find themselves in is in many ways unbecoming of their progenitors’ glory and the sacrifices they made. Therefore, the small-­scale aggression displayed in the poem is a reaction to the inability of the Greek nation-­state to stand on its own two feet. Believing that his country is run with ineptitude, he lashes out, sparing neither porcelain nor man. While this is in many ways comical, it is also a demonstration of despair by the man (and Souris) who asserts it should be Greece that decides its own ­future. Akhmatova and Souris’s poems are not only snapshots of history in structured verse but also timeless accounts that elucidate the reactions of ordinary ­people witnessing and feeling the po­liti­cal phenomena that shape their lives. Furthermore, they seek to analyze t­ hese events in a way they believe are true, despite threats of censorship. Therefore, I challenge you to think about how poetry is an art that forces us to recognize not only common universal ­human sentiments but also how po­liti­cal poetry, specifically, can be a potent reminder of why ­people stand for certain beliefs and why they believe they are worth fighting for.

NOTES 1 The Red Terror claimed the lives of anywhere from fifty thousand to two million ­people. Alexey Timofeychev, “How Many Lives Did the Red Terror Claim?,” Rus­sia Beyond, 7 September 2018, https://­www​ .­rbth​.­com​/­history​/3­ 29091​-­how​-­many​-­lives​-­claimed​-­red​-­terror. 3 Much of the information on the po­liti­cal and biographical context of the poem was provided in Valentina Melikhova’s design brief. 4 Akhmatova follows a traditional structure of three stanzas with alternating rhyme scheme (abab). 5 Nadezhda, in Rus­sian, translates into “hope.”

Hope and Despair

2 The Soviet secret police from 1917 to 1922.

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6 The newspaper was internationally recognized by the Acad­emy and Lit­er­a­ture (in 1903) and the Fourth Estate: A Weekly Newspaper (in 1895) and considered respectively to be “a remarkable paper” and the “most extraordinary journal in the world.” 7 I thank ­here Konstantina Damvakaris not only for much of the information ­here given on Souris’s poem, but also for several quoted comments provided both within and beyond her original design brief. The hyperbolic remark cited on Souris’s journal occurs in Taso Psara, “Γεώργιος Σουρής -­ Εποχές και Συγγραφείς,” YouTube, directed by Taso Psara, per­for­mance by Dimitra Hatoupi, ERT, https://­www​ .­youtube​.­com​/­watch​?v­ ​=­MdEQOBFYiyI&app​= ­desktop. 8 Cited by Damvakaris from Εκπομπές Που Aγάπησα: Γεώργιος Σουρής, directed by Freddy Germanos, per­ for­mance by Freddy Germanos (ERT, 1976), https://­w ww​.­youtube​.­com​/­watch​?­v​=L­ ACvNl5Cjhw&app​ =­desktop. 9 Acmeism is a school in modern Rus­sian poetry that revolted against symbolism’s vagueness and attempted to privilege emotional suggestion over clarity and vivid sensory images. See https://­poets​ .­org​/­text​/­brief​-­g uide​-­acmeism. 10 Konstantina Damvakaris, “Analy­sis of ‘O Romios’ by Georgios Souris” (2019). 11 Martin Puchner, “Requiem: How a Poem Resisted Stalin,” BBC, 15 May  2018, www​.­bbc​.­com​/­culture​ /­a rticle​/­20180515​-r­ equiem​-h ­ ow​-­a​-p ­ oem​-­resisted​-­stalin. 12 A fact noted in Taso Psara’s Γεώργιος Σουρής -­ Εποχές και Συγγραφείς. 13 Damvakaris, “Analy­sis of ‘O Romios.’ ” 14 Noted by Damvakaris from the above-­cited video by Freddy Germanos. 15 It also forms one of the basic building blocks of Greek civil society. 16 Bey is the Turkish word for chieftain. 17 Damvakaris, “Analy­sis of ‘O Romios.’ ”

Ian C. Lovoulos

18 Μοναχή το δρόμο επήρες, εξανάλθες μοναχή. Δεν είν’ εύκολες οι θύρες, εάν η χρεία τες κουρταλή.

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6 POETRIES –­POLITICS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF ONE DESIGN STUDENT

i was in my se­n ior year, in the BFA design concentrated program, when I took the Design Practicum where we would collaboratively work on the Poetries –­Politics proj­ect. It was only the second semester that the class was held, so I was not sure what to expect, but Professor Atif Akin was one of my favorite professors, so I knew it would be stimulating. As the semester went by, I became invested in my work on what would be one of the most challenging proj­ects during my time at Mason Gross. It was the first time in a while that I had started feeling the expressive side of myself. The poems we worked with are raw and empowering to read; it was a proj­ect that ignited a fire in me, to want to connect a feeling with my work and give it life. This proj­ect changed my perception of thinking through design and poetic meaning. At the center of all my work was the creation of completely original designs for a series of corresponding poems solely through inspiration from the poems’ words. It was something I had not gotten the opportunity to experience before. Creating visuals for very power­ful and meaningful poems was quite challenging, and I constantly found myself rethinking the design ­behind each one. The student-­generated design briefs gave us the historical and biographical background needed to understand the context of each individual poem. ­After reading a brief, I wanted to do the poem justice. Each poem had its own unique feel to it, ­whether it be the tone of words used or the history ­behind it. “Still I Rise” (fig. 6.1), for example, was the first poem I worked with. At first, I was at a loss of what to do. It was only ­after reading about the history ­behind the poem that a spark of inspiration occurred. Ma­ya Angelou, the poet, wrote about her fight against the injustice done to

POETRIES –­ POLITICS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF ONE DESIGN STUDENT

DEVON MONAGHAN

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Devon Monaghan

African American w ­ omen and how she would not be fazed or belittled. The poem is so power­ful and moving. “You may shoot me with your words, / You may cut me with your eyes, / You may kill me with your hatefulness, / But still, like air, I’ll rise” is perhaps my favorite passage. She exudes confidence and unwavering strength through her words, and I would have not done this poem justice without knowing the history ­behind it. I think that was the beauty of this proj­ect: being able to give life to the words of the writer by empathizing through visual imagery was an exciting and rewarding way to honor the poets. My work on the proj­ect continued, however, ­after the initial design work was complete. In order to ensure accuracy and to make sure our vision coincided with that of the designers, we ­were asked to go through multiple rounds of edits. Editing the poems to be grammatically correct in multiple languages was prob­ably one of the toughest parts about it. The pro­cess started off with the design students working with the student-­ curators. This was more of the easy round. Not many changes occurred, just the changing of specific characters before putting up the temporary exhibition. The real corrections came months ­later when the pro­cess of permanently installing the Poetries –­Politics exhibition, now envisioned as a permanent installation, began. ­There ­were multiple rounds of editing and correcting that needed to be done before the framing. For some posters, we needed to swap versions or translations due to rights and permissions issues; in other instances, we had to replace unreliable citations and locate original versions of the poem. For some poems, literally editing word for word was the only way to ensure accuracy with the specific accents some languages needed. Errors happened regularly due to impor­tant characters showing up only in certain fonts. One-­ third of the files that ­were received no longer had layers that ­were editable, which meant the changes needed to be Photoshopped in. The learning pro­cess from editing was intense, and I had a love-­hate relationship with the pro­cess, but I learned so much from this journey. The biggest ­thing that I took away from this experience was learning how to become more detail oriented. ­After engaging in so many stages of edits, I learned to pay more attention to the minute details in my work, and that has heightened my ability as a designer. I now approach my own work from a better design perspective with the importance of smaller details in mind and the experience of how connecting viewers, texts, and images to emotions should guide my practice. In the world of design, you are not always able to freely create totally original visuals like I was able to for ­these posters. Getting the opportunity to openly design something with minimal restrictions was exhilarating and creatively inspiring. Rutgers ­really motivated me to grow as both a person and a designer in ways I never thought would happen in college. This proj­ect helped with reopening the door of imagination and interpretation in my mind. I am deeply grateful for this experience and the p ­ eople I have gotten to work with on this extraordinary proj­ect. Following page verso: Figure 6.2: Sappho, “Fragment 94.” Poster design by Devon Monaghan, 2017. Recto: Figure 6.3: Rashid Hussein, “With the Land.” Poster design by Devon Monaghan, 2017.

POETRIES –­ POLITICS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF ONE DESIGN STUDENT

Facing: Figure 6.1: Ma­ya Angelou, “Still I Rise.” Poster design by Devon Monaghan, 2017.

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Devon Monaghan

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POETRIES –­ POLITICS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF ONE DESIGN STUDENT

7 THE PEDAGOGY OF POETRIES –­POLITICS How to Craft Your Own Project-­Based Learning Course

Jenevieve DeLosSantos

JENEVIEVE DELOSSANTOS

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educators across the humanities share the common goals of fostering in their students deep critical analy­ sis skills, developing research and writing prowess, increasing student empathy and their awareness of social justice issues, and encouraging lifelong learning. We ask our students to think across time and space, to think comparatively and build arguments, and to look at the world from a multitude of diverse perspectives that generate new ideas. The illustrated cata­logue of sixty-­five brilliantly conceived designs in this collection is a testament to ­these values. It represents the incredible space of intellectual and creative exchange that the Poetries –­Politics seminar produced. However, what undergirds ­these finished products is a masterful exercise in transdisciplinary, project-­based teaching. Although the topic of po­liti­ cal poetry is specific to our proj­ect, the essence of collaborative, active learning that runs through this endeavor can be mobilized in any number of ways, for a variety of courses, and at disparate grade levels. In what follows, I discuss Poetries –­Politics as an example of “project-­based learning,” a form of course design that is anchored in a central, con­ temporary question of “real-­world” relevance and facilitates student learning through the communal production of a deliverable end goal. For readers who would like to produce similar collaborative tasks or to offer similarly structured courses, this discussion is intended to serve as a guide in designing well-­structured proj­ects that facilitate student learning—­research, analy­sis, collaboration, creativity, and even proj­ect management skills—­through the act of ­doing.

The Poetries –­Politics course ­running in the fall of 2017 was transdisciplinary in structure, as School of Arts and Sciences students collaborated directly with peers and colleagues from Mason Gross School of the Arts to produce wholly new works of art, exhibited and celebrated at the culmination of the course. Transdisciplinary teaching is distinct from multi-­and interdisciplinary teaching modes of inquiry in that scholars from distinct disciplines work together to solve a “­grand challenge,” merging their disciplinary lenses to create innovative forms of information.1 As Mary Shaw and Atif Akin both explore in their essays, they brought together their distinct disciplines to address the pressing po­liti­cal urgency for a show of inclusion and cele­bration of campus diversity. The exhibition’s walls of inclusion underpinned the ­whole of the course, activating the critical study of both multilingual lit­er­a­ture and design to serve the ­whole community. With this charge, the course diverged from a traditional seminar format. Working collaboratively, students spent class time meeting with colleagues from across the university, working with their peers on exhibition planning, working with their student-­designer counter­parts developing collaborative original designs, and working through complicated tasks of organ­izing and installing a formal exhibition. Designing courses around student-­generated deliverables not only helps to facilitate deeper engagement but also allows students to hone key career-­readiness skills that only enhance their exploration of the course subject. Below, I explore the pedagogical princi­ples ­behind Poetries –­Politics and highlight key takeaways that can enrich ­future proj­ects. It is my hope that many ­others ­will be inspired by Mary Shaw’s initial goal of using poetry and art to break down ideological and po­liti­cal borders and expand the notions of humanities research into active, collaborative proj­ ects of their own.2

Project-­based learning as a pedagogical practice recalls the princi­ples of experiential learning delineated by John Dewey.3 Even in 1933, Dewey suggested that a central prob­ lem or question could drive student learning and that this pro­cess of questioning was at the core of “reflective” thinking.4 Moving away from the “sage on the stage” model of learning through passive listening and absorption helps to increase critical thinking and gives students greater autonomy over their learning as they work collaboratively through course content in the ser­vice of their end goal.5 Taking a cue from Dewey, among o ­ thers, project-­based learning locates the learning pro­cess in a core, motivating central question and builds from ­there. ­These questions are most effective when they are practical, relatable, and relevant to current events.6 Poetries –­ Politics was centered on two core questions: How, through the critical study of global, multilingual poetry, can we create inviting walls of inclusion that celebrate diversity? And how can we promote rich cross-­cultural exchange through the study of diverse forms of poetry? Anchoring ­these questions in a deliverable end product asks students to do more than research, perform close readings, and write a traditional analy­sis. Instead, it challenges them to develop new, transferable skills as they collectively mobilize ­under real deadlines, collaborate with multiple stakeholders, and take owner­ship of the result.

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Poetries –­Politics and Project-­Based Learning

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The University of Minnesota’s ­Career Readiness core competencies outline a number of impor­tant skills that students can develop in their liberal arts education to better prepare them for ­today’s job market. In addition to traditional competencies like analytical and critical thinking, oral and written communication, and prob­lem solving, ­these core competencies also include ­career management, digital literacy, engaging diversity, active citizenship and community engagement, and innovation and creativity.7 While most classes, regardless of content or structure, can help support students in honing ­these competencies, project-­based learning strongly supports ­these goals. In having students take the lead on selecting works and subjects, building connections within a larger community, communicating their ideas with distinct partners, and working with the general public in representing the proj­ect and guiding the audience, students learn more about their own values, interests, skills, and strengths. The focus of Poetries –­Politics on community engagement also gave students the valuable experience of working directly with a multitude of dif­fer­ent perspectives from both within and beyond the Rutgers community. Motivating students around crucial questions of the con­temporary moment and empowering them to make a demonstrable, tangible difference is, perhaps, education at its finest. The implementation of such a proj­ect, however, can be difficult and requires instructors to proactively gather new resources, learn new skills, and develop structures of support for their students within their course design. The following section provides a practical look at how one might execute one’s own Poetries –­Politics–­inspired course.

How to Make Your Own Poetries –­Politics The steps I outline below are intended as general guidelines and would naturally have to fit the needs of your own course learning goals and work within the context of your own institution. At the conclusion of this list, I provide additional resources about project-­ based learning for further reading.

Jenevieve DeLosSantos

1. Define Your Question

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As discussed, project-­based learning rests on a central driving question, and the con­ temporary relevance of the driving question or “prob­lem” is a key student motivator. As a scholar in your own discipline, consider its most pressing prob­lems. How could considering one or more of ­these issues both contribute to the field and foster deep student learning? Good questions are ones that are difficult to answer but are still approachable and are able to be addressed with a proj­ect that works ­toward a larger solution. The Poetries –­ Politics course asked students to explore how multilingual works of poetry and generating new forms of visual art could be leveraged to celebrate campus diversity.8 It guided students to the pro­cess of deeply engaging with poems that represent global, historical, spiritual, and mythological po­liti­cal sentiments by activating them in the pre­sent. To help orient students, share your central question early on and return to it throughout the course. For Poetries, this goal was presented to students at the outset, clearly

indicated on the syllabus, and used to frame the more pointed dialogues about proj­ect management and course expectations. On the syllabus, Shaw included, “What we ­will be trying to build, through our course and campus-­wide, with this opening exhibition for the Poetries –­Politics colloquium, ­will be inviting multilingual walls (as opposed to the alienating border “wall” that has been much discussed of late); walls that welcome the finest and most power­f ul po­liti­cal poetry ever created throughout the world.” If your schedule permits and it works within the scope of your course, having students take part in generating the driving question ­behind their exploration of the topic is a ­great way to increase student engagement. Leading students through the pro­cess of developing a research question helps to increase awareness of pressing topics in the field and stimulate intellectual curiosity.

2. Define the Deliverable and Connect It to Your Question In thinking about your central question, what kind of final product would serve as the best vehicle to address the larger, motivating prob­lem? Moving away from the exploratory paper typical of traditional seminars, think about real-­world deliverables that relate to your respective field.9 For example, a multiday, multilingual colloquium devoted to global poetry is the perfect proj­ect related to Poetries –­Politics in that it emulates the ­actual work that lit­er­a­ture scholars do in putting on similar events for the larger public. Likewise, a physical exhibition of the newly designed posters suits the “real-­world” equivalency in terms of the discipline of design and visual culture; prac­ti­tion­ers of the arts conceptualize, install, publicize, and attend exhibitions as a central part of their work. Anchoring the course’s central question in an au­then­tic end result models ­career pathways for students and helps them build transferable skill sets that reach far beyond the course proj­ect. Once you have an idea of the desired deliverable, communicate the connection between the end proj­ect and the question clearly and deliberately to your students. For example, Shaw explained the goal of the proj­ect as such: “In this course, we w ­ ill prepare a multilingual poetry exhibition for the new Rutgers Academic Building, to accompany an international, interdisciplinary colloquium . . . ​on the theme of poetry’s relations to politics. The purpose of this exhibition ­will be to gather and celebrate power­f ul po­liti­cal poems from all over the world. The poems ­will be researched, chosen, and prepared for display both by student-­curators registered in this class and by other students whom participants ­will recruit throughout our university to join in the exhibition proj­ect.”

One of the most valuable ele­ments of project-­based teaching is the way in which it expands the notion of the classroom into thinking about a larger field, a larger campus community, and a larger world of ­careers, proj­ects, and passions. ­Great proj­ects ­will naturally be interdisciplinary and stretch both your own and your students’ skill sets into uncharted territories. Perhaps your proj­ect might include video editing, or perhaps students might like to explore the audio component of poetry and rec­ord podcasts. How many ­people have experience in mounting full-­scale exhibitions? While you w ­ ill all

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3. Gather Resources and Tap into Your Community

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learn together, reaching out to colleagues with experience in distinct fields, modalities, and methods ­will enrich your proj­ect, help you imagine its fullest potential, and help support you as the instructor responsible for both facilitating learning and managing the proj­ect. The Poetries –­Politics 2017 seminar is a testament to the vitality of a campus community and the rich output such collective collaboration can produce. Over the duration of their 1.5-­credit course, students met with a humanities librarian, an art librarian, the director for the Center of ­Women in the Arts and Humanities, and curators from the Zimmerli Art Museum. They spoke with a public historian, learned more about poetry research from specialists, and had discussions with faculty from the School of Communications Information on visual culture. All of this is on top of the transdisciplinary nature of the course itself, working in such close partnership with graphic designers from Mason Gross School of the Arts. Think broadly about what opportunities your institution affords you: what departments can you work with, what offices might share beneficial resources, what cultural centers or museums could you meet with? ­These collaborations enrich the content of the course and provide students with new connections and exposure to the larger community.

4. Structure, Support, and Scaffolding In order to guide your students through to the conclusion of your proj­ect, you ­will need to be clear and deliberate in articulating and supporting students in navigating and meeting major working pro­cesses, benchmarks, and deadlines. Like a large research paper, big assignments are best tackled in incremental steps, a pro­cess referred to as scaffolding.10 The kinds of proj­ects typically created in project-­based learning courses require a wide variety of skills from students, some of which might not be fully developed. Think about what skills students ­will need to complete the task. Which of ­these skills are supported by the course materials? Who can you bring in to help students hone skills they might have not yet developed? How can you tap into the unique cultural capital and individual talents of each of your students to help enrich this proj­ect? Creating a course structure with clear roles for student leadership and guidelines for collaboration and del­eg­ a­tion ­will help to keep students focused on the course objectives and their individual roles within them. For example, in Shaw’s course, she clearly indicated key deadlines for not just the final deliverable but also intermediate steps along the way. For readers interested in organ­izing a similar venture, h ­ ere is an outline of the key steps in the proj­ect:

Jenevieve DeLosSantos

1. Students select poems of interest and work with their community to get a wide variety of perspectives on poems to feature from multiple, dif­fer­ent cultures.

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2. Once the poems are selected, students share their first-­round choices in class and share completed “design briefs” (explained more fully below, but essentially research briefs to aid the graphic design students in their interpretive pro­cess).

3. ­After working on finalizing briefs, students submit all completed materials to Mason Gross designers (six weeks into the course). 4. Exhibition preparation begins: student-­curators form teams to plan pre­sen­ta­ tions they ­will give during the official opening. 5. Students, instructor, and other volunteers install the exhibition. 6. Students serve as exhibition guides during the opening event. Giving each student a clearly defined role of “student-­curator” and indicating impor­ tant deadlines in the larger timeline at the very outset of the course is a crucial way to help structure what could seem like an overwhelming task, while also scaffolding the learning pro­cesses needed for the culminating event. Students ­were so thoroughly engaged in their poems, in finding translations and working with designers about their distinct interpretations, and so intimately familiar with the full exhibition layout that they ­were inherently prepared to take leadership roles during the exhibition opening.

Teaching a project-­based course means shifting your mindset from lecturer/educator to proj­ect manager/educator. The act of learning is “in the ­doing,” and this supplements the course materials you select as the basis for the activity. As Suzie Boss and Jane Krauss suggest in their book Reinventing Project-­Based Learning: Your Field Guide to Real-­World Proj­ ects in the Digital Age: “Proj­ect learning, like real life, gets messy and overlaps multiple disciplines. It’s in this overlapping space that ­great proj­ects are born.”11 As described above, students ­were given leadership roles and empowered to work with peers in their respective communities before coming together as a class and collectively implementing the ­actual exhibition. If you are working in higher education, this kind of student-­centered autonomy could work well in supporting leadership and time management skills. If this would not work well for you or you are in a K–12 learning environment, think about what structure would work best for your students. Would they work better in small teams or in pairs? Should each student get the same role, or would it suit both the learning goals of your proj­ect and the needs of your students to delegate out specific tasks? In addition to student roles, think critically about the digital spaces that can best or­ga­nize the work that you and the students w ­ ill be creating. If you are using a learning management system, decide if materials should be uploaded via the platform or if you and your students prefer Google Drive and Google Docs. Spend time in class g­ oing through the system of organ­ization. If you are working with a partner outside of your discipline, like Shaw and Akin, confer with them about their preferences and think about the kinds of materials you ­will be exchanging. Large poster files, for example, are too big to send via email, and a shared drive is a more suitable option. One par­tic­u­lar ele­ment of the Poetries –­Politics proj­ect’s orga­nizational method warrants specific discussion: the design brief.

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5. Or­ga­nize and Develop a Collaboration System

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The Design Brief Exchanging ideas between dif­fer­ent individuals could result in a game of telephone if not clearly managed. In order to best facilitate the kind of exchange that made this proj­ect so distinct, a clear template to guide the work was needed. Included for your reference is a template for a “design brief” (fig. 7.1) built around the kinds of documents the students produced for this proj­ect. The template includes a place for the poem’s title, the students’ names, the poem in both the original language and the translation, the poet’s name and life dates, and the citation text. It also allows for areas of research and reflection with spaces dedicated to “relevant research on the poet,” “context around the poem’s publication,” “personal reflections on the poet/poem,” “background on the poem,” “visual ele­ments and considerations for the poster design,” and “reference images.” Each student-­curator worked with their peers and larger community to fill out ­these design briefs for ­every selected poem. ­These briefs ­were then shared with their peers at Mason Gross and served as the basis from which they would develop their original designs. Having this standardized anchor was a key ele­ment in organ­izing the student work and keeping the collaboration clear, logical, and efficient. I hope you ­will refer to the template included ­here in organ­izing your own Poetries-­ inspired proj­ect. More than just a useful orga­nizational tool, the brief also served as a crucial prompt that guided research and ensured the responsible citing of the poets, secondary sources, and reference images. To help the student-­curators complete t­ hese briefs, Shaw drafted a useful reference document outlining four key steps to working through this pro­cess. To paraphrase Shaw’s text, students should 1. Scan and cite all texts: Create PDFs of all poems as they appear in their original source, and retype the work in a Word document as you would want it to appear in the newly designed poster. All works must be properly cited. 2. Carefully read the poem and note what visual images it evokes for you. 3. Do research on information concerning the poet, the context of the poem’s publication, and information that might pertain to your interpretation of the theme. 4. Reread the poem and draft notes for the designer. Reflecting on research, think about the visual ele­ments you want to see in the poster including key colors, original images or ready-­made images, and the fonts you think suit the work.

Jenevieve DeLosSantos

As the proj­ect aims for professional standards, this level of detail is significant both in demonstrating to students the au­then­tic pro­cess of implementing tangible proj­ects and in ensuring a standard level of professionalism across a large-­scale proj­ect.

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6. Define Assessment Structure and Make Room for Reflection One of the more challenging components of a project-­based learning course is defining the terms of assessment. As previously discussed, the ­actual proj­ect is used as the assessment tool, and the learning goals encompass not only content mastery but also the development and use of transferable skill sets required in executing the final proj­ect.

THE PEDAGOGY OF POETRIES –­ POLITICS

Figure 7.1: Template for design brief adapted by the editor from 2017 original.

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For Poetries –­Politics, the grade was earned through successful completion of each individual deadline and proj­ect goal. Producing successfully completed design briefs required both traditional forms of research and innovative, community-­based crowdsourced research. Students earned their grades through completing ­these briefs, attending class, contributing to the larger group dialogue and preparation for the event, helping to install the exhibition, and serving as guides to their respective “galleries” during the event. In developing a similar course, clearly indicate to students that the active, responsible completion of ­these tasks constitutes the final grade for the course. This might require a mind shift for some students who are used to being assessed by exams or papers. Students who wanted to continue thinking about this proj­ect ­after the exhibition ­were given the option of extending the 1.5-­credit course into a 3-­credit option with an additional reflection paper on their selected poems and the experience of preparing them. Building in space for critical reflection is one way to encourage metacognition in students, who can use the exercise to critically consider the ways in which the proj­ect has ­shaped their thinking about the field, about the central driving question, and about their own skills. Building in reflections also provides the instructor with an additional tool to mea­sure student learning. If your students met the objects of each proj­ect deadline but missed some of the more nuanced points about the po­liti­cal dimension of their selected poem, for example, this is an indication that they might need additional support in digesting this content.

Jenevieve DeLosSantos

Final Thoughts

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In closing, I want to discuss some specific details that are worth noting in designing a comparable proj­ect with a similar poetry/visual art focus. The first is on the topic of copyright. Perhaps the most challenging portion of this ­whole proj­ect was combatting the complicated layers of copyright law around the poems selected, their translations, and any images included in the design. The doctrine of fair use in U.S. copyright law permits ­f ree use of works published prior to 1924 as works in the “public domain.”12 For works authored more recently, proj­ects must be educational and noncommercial to constitute fair use. Proj­ects that also transform the nature of the poem into a wholly new interpretation can also fall ­under fair use. If your proj­ect is ­limited to a short-­term, local installation, t­ here is minimal risk of copyright infringement. However, if you have any interest in publishing your proj­ect, featuring it on social media or the web, or promoting it beyond your campus community, direct students to select textual and visual materials within the public domain or from open-­access resources. While this does limit certain se­lections, it also removes a major obstacle that could, like in this volume, lead to the omission of examples of student work or severely impact the timeline and reach of the proj­ect. Shaw was able to recruit her students in Spring 2017 (prior to the course in Fall 2017), allowing them to gather some poems and think about the proj­ect before the course officially began. She was also able to interview interested students to gauge their language ability and to curate a class of students with complementary but distinct skill sets. This

structure might not be available to you, but this should not deter you from modifying this design to a schedule and scope that better fits your needs. Perhaps changing the global range of the poems you select or developing a bank of suggested works with their En­glish translations in advance could help accommodate a course where students have less varied language abilities.13 It is also impor­tant to note that this proj­ect extended far beyond the original 2017 seminar. In its next phase, I advised a team of four undergraduate students from dif­fer­ent majors and schools as part of the School of Arts and Sciences’ Interdisciplinary Research Teams. ­These students worked with me for a semester on proofreading the original posters in all their varied languages, making corrections and edits, designing their own poster for Rashid Hussein’s “With the Land,” and reimagining the temporary exhibition into a permanent installation that was professionally framed and installed in the fall of 2020. ­These students—­Brianna Casas (Mason Gross 2020), Ashley Fowler (SAS 2020), Nisha Khan (SAS 2022), and Elena Lisci (SAS 2022)—­were invaluable in pushing this proj­ect beyond the scope of its original exhibition, and their work demonstrates the limitless possibilities that student-­led proj­ects can offer an institution. Fi­nally, this proj­ect was indebted to the generous support of the School of Arts and Sciences as well as vari­ous volunteers and campus partners. Installing an exhibition at any scale requires financial support, and producing posters comes with material costs. At the outset of the proj­ect, make a detailed bud­get considering all the costs associated with your vision. Such costs might include, among ­others, printing and paper costs, refreshments for opening events, marketing materials, space rentals, and/or costs associated with the manual installation. Regardless of bud­get, it is still pos­si­ble and valuable to take on a similar project-­based course, and the steps above are meant to help you envision ways to modify the result in a way that works with your resources. Poetries –­Politics was much more than a course; it was a proj­ect that created a lasting impact for both its students and the larger campus community.

Further Reading on Project-­Based Learning Websites

Buck Institute for Education. “MyPBLWorks.” https://­my​.­pblworks​.­org.

Edutopia. “Resources for Project-­Based Learning. ” Last modified October 19, 2007. www​.­edutopia​.­org​ /­project​-­based​-­learning​-­g uide​-­resources.

Boss, Suzie, and Jane Krauss. Reinventing Project-­Based Learning: Your Field Guide to Real-­World Proj­ects in the Digital Age. Portland, OR: International Society for Technology in Education, 2018. Farber, Katy. Real and Relevant: A Guide for Ser­vice and Project-­Based Learning. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017. Steenhuis, Harm-­Jan, et al. Project-­Based Learning: How to Approach, Report, Pre­sent, and Learn from Course-­Long Proj­ects. New York: Business Expert Press, 2018.

Stoddard, Elisabeth, et al. Project-­Based Learning in the First Year: Beyond All Expectations. Sterling, VA: Stylus, 2019.

THE PEDAGOGY OF POETRIES –­ POLITICS

Books

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NOTES 1 Kristin Boudreau and Derren Rosbach, “The Value of a Transdisciplinary Approach,” in Project-­Based Learning in the First Year: Beyond All Expectations, ed. Kristin K. Wobbe and Elisabeth A. Stoddard (Sterling, VA: Stylus, 2019), 34, http://­ebookcentral​.­proquest​.c­ om​/l­ ib​/­rutgers​-­ebooks​/­detail​.a­ ction​?­docID​=­5649597. 2 Mary Shaw, “Why Poetries –­Politics?” (chapter 1). 3 As discussed in Laura Helle, Paivi Tynjala, and Erkki Olkinuora, “Project-­Based Learning in Post-­ secondary Education—­Theory, Practice and Rubber Sling Shots,” Higher Education 51 (2006): 290. For the original source, see J. Dewey, How We Think: A Restatement of the Relation of Reflective Thinking to the Educative Pro­cess (Boston: D.C. Heath, 1933). 4 Helle, Tynjala, and Olkinuora, “Project-­Based Learning in Post-­secondary Education,” 290. 5 Alison King, “From Sage on the Stage to Guide on the Side,” College Teaching 41, no. 1 (Winter 1993): 30–35. 6 “Chapter Three: Imagining the Possibilities,” in Suzie Boss and Jane Krauss, Reinventing Project-­Based Learning: Your Field Guide to Real-­World Proj­ects in the Digital Age (International Society for Technology in Education, 2014), 65, http://­ebookcentral​.p ­ roquest​.­com​/­lib​/­rutgers​-e­ books​/­detail​.­action​?­docID​=4­ 395788. 7 For more information on the University of Minnesota’s “­Career Readiness” learning objectives, see their useful website: “­Career Readiness,” College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota, https://­cla​.­u mn​ .­edu​/­career​-s­ ervices​-­office​/­career​-­readiness. 8 Shaw very deliberately allowed students to think creatively about what constitutes “poetry.” As you can see in this cata­logue song lyr­ics, prose, and religious texts found their way into this collection as students deeply explored the expressive potential of multiple forms of writing. For more information about Shaw’s course design and working pro­cess, see her essay “Why Poetries –­Politics?,” chapter 1 in this volume. 9 “Chapter Three: Imagining the Possibilities,” in Boss and Krauss, Reinventing Project-­Based Learning, 61–78. 10 For a useful discussion of scaffolding to improve learning, see “Instructional Scaffolding to Improve Learning” (Northern Illinois University, Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, 2012), https://­www​ .­niu​.­edu​/­citl​/r­ esources​/­guides​/i­ nstructional​-­guide​/­instructional​-­scaffolding​-t­ o​-­improve​-­learning​.­shtml. 11 Boss and Krauss, Reinventing Project-­Based Learning, 65. 12 U.S. Copyright Office, “More Information on Fair Use” (May 2021), https://­www​.­copyright​.­gov​/­fair​-­use​ /­more​-i­ nfo​.­html.

Jenevieve DeLosSantos

13 Please note that not all students spoke or read all languages in the proj­ect. Students relied on crowdsourcing to help get the widest, richest breath of languages pos­si­ble. Since this proj­ect was anchored in multilingualism, most students did have an expertise in one or two languages and an interest in language study more broadly. In order to execute a proj­ect in the same spirit of our Poetries –­Politics, one would want to have a similar student interest and ability with multiple languages. Modifications to this could produce excellent posters and exhibitions that explore poetry and art, but would not be rooted in multilingualism in the same manner.

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PART II

WHY POETRIES—POLITICS?

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

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CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

84

Every­thing Is Plundered, Betrayed, Sold | Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966)

88

Alcaeus—­Fragment 130b | Alcaeus (ca. 620–­ca. 580 bce)

90

Cholera | Nazik al-­Malaika (1923–2007)

92

The ­Will of Life | ​Abu Al-­Qasim Al-­Shabbi (1909–1934)

94

The Silver Platter | ​Natan Alterman (1910–1970)

96

Still I Rise | ​Ma­ya Angelou (1928–2014)

98

­Every Day | Ingeborg Bachmann (1926–1973)

102

We All Conspire | Mario Benedetti (1920–2009)

104

Stele | Ana Blandiana (1942–)

106

Language and Dialect | Ignazio Buttitta (1899–1997)

108

Impression of Exile | Luis Cernuda (1902–1963)

112

Ardana II | Kyriakos Charalambides (1940–)

114

A Collective Passport | Nicolae Coande (1962–)

116

The Cypress Broke | Mahmoud Darwish (1941–2008)

118

The Tragics | Agrippa D’Aubigné (1552–1630)

120

122

I: A Poet –­Am Ready? | Saroop Dhruv (1948–)

124

The Sewing ­Table | Marie Josephine Diamond (1940–2017)

126

I Had No Time to Hate— | Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)

128

Fly Away Young Chick | Arik Einstein (1939–2013)

130

A Solitary Swallow | Odysseus Elytis (1911–1996)

132

Baedeker | ​Virág Erdős (1968–)

134

Medea | Euripedes (ca. 480–ca. 406 bce)

138

Warning. | Heinrich Heine (1797–1856)

142

Lullabies of the Onion | Miguel Hernández (1910–1942)

144

On Living | Nâzim Hikmet (1902–1963)

148

Passion | Maria Teresa Horta (1937–)

150

With the Land | Rashid Hussein (1936–1977)

152

Red Scissors W ­ oman | Kim Hyesoon (1955–)

154

Groundless Fear | Qiu Jin (1875–1907)

156

Satire X | Juvenal (ca. 55–ca. 138?)

158

Rubayi | Omar Khayyam (1048–1131)

160

The Planners | Boey Kim Cheng (1965–)

162

We ­Don’t Want This Tradition… | Nirmala Kondepudi (1958–)

164

Four Years | Abdellatif Laâbi (1942–)

166

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

A ­Woman’s Letter | Marceline Desbordes-­Valmore (1786–1859)

85

In Prison | Alamin Mazrui (1948–)

168

I Have Occupied the Space | Nadeema Musthan (1980–)

170

Election in Chimbarongo | Pablo Neruda (1904–1973)

174

The Heights of Macchu Picchu, XII | Pablo Neruda (1904–1973)

176

One Who Acts in Excess | Denrele Adetimikan Ọbasa (1879–1945)

180

Metamorphoses | Ovid (43 bce–17/18 ce)

184

Capriccio for Goya | Konstantin Pavlov (1933–2008)

186

Yesterday After­noon a City Man | Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935)

188

Tune: “A Dream Song” A Reminiscence | ​Li Qingzhao (1084–1150)

192

Razglednicas | Miklós Radnóti (1909–1944)

194

Oh Freedom | Shamsur Rahman (1929–2006)

196

The Beggar’s Song | Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926)

200

Cure Your Slavery with Patience | Saniya Salih (1939–1995)

202

Sappho’s Confession | Sappho (630–580 bce)

204

Moscow | ​Jaroslav Seifert (1901–1986)

206

Mid-­Autumn Moon | Su Shi (1037–1101)

208

My Abebà | Ribka Sibhatu (1962–)

210

The Greek | Georgios Souris (1853–1919)

212

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

Histories of the Nations | Srirangam Srinivasa Rao (Sri Sri) (1910–1983) 214

86

216

Some ­People | Wisława Szymborska (1923–2012)

218

­There Is a Land, They Say | Shaul Tchernichovsky (1875–1943)

220

Constantinople | Vahan Tekeyan (1878–1945)

222

Anguish | ​José Moreno Villa (1887–1955)

224

Bhagavad Gita | Sage Vyasa (fifth ­century bce to second ­century bce)

226

When It Happens, I Will Be Afraid | Author Unknown

228

When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d | ​Walt Whitman (1819–1892)

230

Van Gogh and You | Liu Xiaobo (1955–2017)

232

Note on Redacted Poems

234

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

Battlefield | August Stramm (1874–1915)

87

Всё pасхищено, Пре́дано, Про́дано

Every­thing Is Plundered, Betrayed, Sold

Всё расхищено, пре́дано, про́дано, Чёрной смерти мелькало крыло, Всё голодной тоскою изглодано, Отчего же нам стало светло?

Every­thing is plundered, betrayed, sold, Death’s ­great black wing scrapes the air, Misery gnaws to the bone. Why then do we not despair?

Днём дыханьями веет вишнёвыми Небывалый под городом лес, Ночью блещет созвездьями новыми Глубь прозрачных июльских небес, —

By day, from the surrounding woods, cherries blow summer into town; at night the deep transparent skies glitter with new galaxies.

И так близко подходит чудесное К развалившимся грязным домам… Никому, никому неизвестное, Но от ве́ка желанное нам.

And the miraculous comes so close to the ruined, dirty houses— something not known to anyone at all, but wild in our breast for centuries.

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

Article II. Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966)

88

Anna Akhmatova, “Всё расхищено, предано, проданo.” The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova, Volume 1 (Zephyr Press, 1990), 578; “Every­thing Is Plundered, Betrayed, Sold.” En­glish translation from Poems of Akhmatova, Selected, Translated, and Introduced by Stanley Kunitz with Max Hayward (Mari­ner Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1997), Copyright © 1967, 1968, 1972, 1973 by Stanley Kunitz and Max Hayward. All rights reserved. Used with permission. Poster design by Ryan Farrell. Student-Curator Valentina Melikhova.

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CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

Alcaeus—­Fragment 130b

Alcaeus—­Fragment 130b

ἀγνοι̣σ.. σβιότοις..ις ὀ τάλαις ἔγω ζώω μοῖραν ἔχων ἀγροϊωτίκαν ἰμέρρων ἀγόρας ἄκουσαι καρ̣υ [ζο]μένας ὦγεσιλαΐδα

I live with a rustic’s lot, longing to hear the agora announced, Agesilaïdas,

καὶ β̣[ό] λλας· τὰ πάτηρ καὶ πάτερος πάτηρ κα..[.].ηρας ἔχοντες πεδὰ τωνδέων τὼν [ἀ]λλαλοκάκων πολίτ̣αν ἔ.[..ἀ]πὺ τούτων ἀπελήλαμαι φεύγων ἐσχατίαισ‘, ὠς δ’ Ὀνυμακλέης ὠθά[ν] άος ἐοίκησα λυκαιμίαις φεύγων τ⌞ον⌟ [π] όλεμον· στάσιν γὰρ πρὸς κρ.[....].οὐκ ἄμεινον ὀννέλην· .].[...].[..]. μακάρων ἐς τέμ[ε]νος θέων ἐοι̣[.....].ε [.]αίνας ἐπίβαις χθόνος χλι.[.].[.].[.] ν συνόδοισί μ’ αὔταις οἴκημι κ[ά]κων ἔκτος ἔχων πόδας, ὄππαι Λ[εσβί]αδες κριννόμεναι φύαν πώλεντ’ ἐλκεσίπεπλοι, περὶ δὲ βρέμει ἄχω θεσπεσία γυναίκων ἴρα[ς ὀ]λολύγας ἐνιαυσίας ...ἀπὺ πόλλων .ότα δὴ θέοι ...σκ...ν Ὀλύμ̣πιοι ...να...μ̣εν.

and the council. That which my ­father and ­father’s ­father grew old in possession of amongst ­these mutually harming citizens, from this I am driven away, an exile in the border-­land, and like Onomacles the Athenian I settled in, “Wolf-­Battle,” fleeing the war. For, as for strife, against … is it not better to be rid (of it)? … into a precinct of the blessed gods I …, having trod on the black earth. … myself meetings themselves I dwell keeping my feet out of trou­ble, where the Lesbian ­women, when they are judged for beauty, go, they of trailing robes, and round about rings the divinely-­sounding peal of ­women’s yearly sacred cry. … from many (trou­bles) when (­will) the gods (­f ree me?) ...

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

Article III. Alcaeus (ca. 620–­ca. 580 bce)

90

Alcaeus, “Fragment 130b.” Text and translation from the original Ancient Greek by Lowell Edmunds, “Deixis and Everyday Expressions in Alcaeus frs. 129 V and 130b V,” Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University. Available from: chs​.­harvard​.­edu​/­CHS​/a­ rticle​/­display​/­4353. Web. 27 August 2020. Poster design by Devon Monaghan. Student-Curator Kimberly Peterman.

91

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

‫الكوليرا‬ ‫طَلَع الفج ُر‬ ْ ‫الماشين‬ ‫أصغ إلى َو ْقع ُخطَى‬ ِ ْ‫ انظُر‬،‫ أص ْغ‬،‫ت الفجْ ر‬ ‫ركب الباكين‬ َ ِ ‫في صم‬ ‫ عشرونا‬،‫ت‬ ٍ ‫عشرةُ أموا‬ ‫ص أص ْغ للباكينا‬ ِ ْ‫ال تُح‬ ِّ ‫اسم ْع صوتَ ال‬ ‫ط ْفل المسكين‬ ‫ ضا َع العد ُد‬،‫ َموْ تَى‬،‫َموْ تَى‬ ُ‫ق َغد‬ َ ‫ لم يَ ْب‬، ‫ َموْ تَى‬، ‫َموْ تَى‬

Cholera It is dawn. Listen to the footsteps of the passerby, in the silence of dawn. Listen, look at the mourning pro­cessions, ten, twenty, no… countless. Listen to the mourners, to the pitiful child. They are dead, dead, dead, without number, without ­f uture.

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

Article VI. Nazik al-­Malaika (1923–2007)

92

Nazik al-­Malaika, “ ‫الكوليرا‬‎” (excerpt). Available from: https://­blogs​.­transparent​.­com​/­a rabic​/­nazik​-­a l​-­malaika​ -­cholera​/­. Web. 27 August 2020; “Cholera” (lines 14–22), Translated from the original Arabic by Husain Haddawy, The Poetry of Arab ­Women: A Con­temporary Anthology, ed. Nathalie Handal (Interlink Books, 2015), 176. Poster design by Opinder Singh. Student-Curator Naima Ouhamou assisted by Hannah Mulligan. Image credit: electron micrograph of Vibrio cholerae [Public Domain] via Dartmouth College, Available from: https://­blog​.­oup​ .­com​/­2013​/­05​/­bacteria​-­a nd​-­success/

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CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

‫إرادة الحياة‬ ‫إذا ال ّشعْبُ يَوْ َما ً أ َرا َد الحياة‬ ْ ‫فَال بُ ّد‬ ْ‫َجيب القَـدَر‬ َ ‫أن يَ ْست‬ ْ ‫َوال بُ ّد لِلَّيـْ ِل‬ ‫أن يَ ْن َجلِــي‬ ْ ‫َوال بُ ّد للقَ ْي ِد‬ ْ‫أن يَـ ْنك َِسـر‬ ْ ُ ْ‫َو َم ْن لَ ْم يُ َعانِ ْقهُ َشو‬ ‫ق ال َحيَـا ِة‬ ْ‫تَبَ ّخـ َر في َج ِّوهَـا وا ْن َدثَـر‬ ُ‫فَ َو ْي ٌل لِ َم ْن لَ ْم تَ ُش ْقـهُ ْال َحيَاة‬ ْ‫َصر‬ َ ‫ِم ْن‬ ِ ‫ص ْف َعـ ِة ال َعـدَم ال ُم ْنت‬ ْ َ‫ك قَال‬ ُ ‫ـت لِـ َي الكَائِن‬ ‫َات‬ َ ِ‫كَذل‬ ْ‫َو َح ّدثَنـي روحُـهَا ال ُم ْستَتِـر‬ ‫اج‬ ِ ‫َودَم َد َم‬ ِ ‫ت الرِّي ُح بَيْنَ الفِ َج‬ ‫الجبَال َوتَحْ تَ ال َّش َجر‬ َ ْ‫َوفَو‬ ِ ‫ق‬ ُ ْ‫”إ َذا َما طَ َمح‬ ‫ـت إلِـى غَـايَ ٍة‬ ُ ‫ْت ْال ُمنَى َون َِس‬ ُ ‫َر ِكب‬ ‫يت ال َح َذر‬ َّ ِّ ‫ب‬ ِ ‫َولَ ْم أَتَ َجنبْ ُوعُـو َر الش َعـا‬ ‫ب ال ُم ْستَ ِعـر‬ ِ ‫َوال ُكبَّـةَ اللَّهَـ‬ ‫ـال‬ ُ ّ‫َو َم ْن ال ي ُِحب‬ ِ َ‫الجب‬ ِ ‫صعُو َد‬ “‫يَ ِعشْ أَبَ َد ال َّد ْه ِر بَيْنَ ال ُحفَـر‬ ْ ‫فَ َعج‬ ‫ب‬ ِ ‫َّت بِقَ ْلبِي ِد َما ُء ال َّشبَـا‬ ْ ‫ضج‬ ...‫ص ْد ِري ِريَا ٌح أُخَر‬ َ ِ‫َّت ب‬ َ ‫َو‬ ُ ْ ْ ُ َ ْ‫ص‬ ْ‫ص‬ ‫ف الرُّ عُو ِد‬ ‫ق‬ ‫ل‬ ‫ي‬ ‫غ‬ ‫أ‬ ، ‫ت‬ ‫ق‬ ‫ر‬ ‫ط‬ َ َ‫َوأ‬ ِ ِ ِ ْ َ ‫ف الرِّ يَاح َو َوق ِع ال َمطـر‬ ِ ‫َوع َْز‬ ْ َ‫َوقَال‬ ُ ‫­ لَ َّما َسأ َ ْل‬- ُ‫ت لِ َي َاأل رْ ض‬ :‫ت‬ “ ‫”أَيَـا أُ ُّم هَلْ تَ ْكرَهينَ البَشَر؟‬ ُ ُّ  ‫ أَ ْه َل‬ ‫اس‬ ‫وح‬ ِ َّ‫ الن‬ ‫ في‬ ُ‫ارك‬ ِ َ‫”أب‬ ِ ‫الط ُم‬ ُّ ‫ ال َخطَـر‬ ‫وب‬ َ ‫ يَ ْستَلِـذ ُر ُك‬ ‫[” َو َم ْن‬...]

The ­Will of Life If one day the ­people should choose life Fate is certain to respond. The night ­will surely retreat, and fetters be broken! He who is not embraced by the longing for life ­Will evaporate in vacancy and be forgotten – Grief to anyone not aroused by the breathing desire for life! Let him beware the slap of oblivion! This is what life said to me, this is how its spirit spoke. The wind muttered between the ravines; ‘When I aspire to a goal, I ­ride my wishes, forgetting caution, face the wilderness, the rugged trails and flaming days – He who does not like scaling mountains ­will live eternally in potholes.’ So the sap of youth churned in my heart as other winds raged within my breast. I bent my head, listening to The clap of thunder, The chime of draft, the cadence of rain. When I asked the earth, ‘­Mother, do you hate mankind?’ She replied, ‘I bless ­those with ambition, ­those who brave danger –­[...]’

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

Article VII. Abu Al-­Qasim Al-­Shabbi (1909–1934)

94

Abu Al-­Qasim Al-­Shabbi, “‫ ”إرادة الحياة‬/ “The W ­ ill of Life (excerpt, lines 1–26).” Translated from the original Arabic by Naomi Shihab Nye and Lena Jayyusi, in Arabic Poems: A Bilingual Edition, ed. Marlé Hammond (London: Everyman’s Library / Alfred A. Knopf, 2014), 178–181. Poster design by Rawan Haroun. Student-Curator Naima Ouhamou.

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‫מגש הכסף‬ “‫ׁשל ֶ ּכסֶף‬ ֶ ‫”אֵין מְדִ ינָה נִּתֶ נֶת ְלעַם עַל ַמּגָׁש‬ ‫חיים וייצמן‬

“A state is not served to a ­people on a silver platter” Chaim Weizmann

‫ׁש ַמי ִם אודֶ מֶת‬ ָ ‫ עֵין‬.‫ׁשקֹט‬ ְ ִ‫ָָארץ ּת‬ ֶ ‫… ְוה‬ ‫ּתְ ַע ְמעֵם ְל ִאּטָּה‬ .‫ׁשנִים‬ ֵ ‫עַל ּגְבּולֹות ֲע‬ — ...‫ׁשמֶת‬ ֶ ‫— קְרּועַת לֵב אְַך נֹו‬ ­ ‫ְו ֻאּמָה תַ ֲעמֹד‬ ‫ְל ַק ֵבּל אֶת ַהּנֵס‬ ...‫ׁשנִי‬ ֵ ‫ָה ֶאחָד אֵין‬

…The land is hushed, a reddening sun Slowly dims Over smoking borders. And a Nation stands—­heart-­torn yet alive…— To encounter the miracle The only miracle…

‫ הִיא תָ קּום לְמּול ַסהַר‬.‫הִיא ַל ֶּטקֶס ּתִ ּכֹון‬ .‫ עֹוטָה חַג ְואֵימָה‬,‫ְו ָעמְדָ ה ט ֶֶרם־יֹום‬ ‫— ­—ָאז ִמּנֶגֶד יֵצְאּו‬ ‫נַע ֲָרה ָונַעַר‬ .‫וְַאט־ַאט י ִ ְצעֲדּו הֵם אֶל מּול ָה ֻאּמָה‬ ,‫ ְו ִכבְדֵ י נַ ֲע ַלי ִם‬,‫לֹו ְבׁשֵי ח ֹל ַוחֲגֹור‬ ‫ַ ּבּנָתִ יב יַעַלּו הֵם‬ .‫הָלֹוְך ְו ַהח ְֵרש‬ ‫ ֹלא מָחּו עֹוד ַבּ ַּמי ִם‬,‫ֹלא ֶה ְחלִיפּו ִבגְדָ ם‬ .‫אֶת ִעקְּבֹות יֹום־ ַהּפ ֶֶרְך ְולֵיל קַו־ ָהאֵׁש‬ ,ַ‫ נְז ִִירים ִמּמ ְַרגֹוע‬,‫ֲעיֵפִים עַד ְ ּבלִי קֵץ‬ ִ ִ ‫ְעּורים ִעב‬ —­ — ‫ְרי ִים‬ ִ ‫וְנֹו ְטפִים ַט ְללֵי נ‬ ,‫ּׁשנַי ִם יִּגְׁשּו‬ ְ ‫ּד ֹם ַה‬ .ַ‫ְו ָעמְדּו ִל ְבלִי־נֹוע‬ .‫ְואֵין אֹות אִם ַחּי ִים הֵם אֹו אִם י ְרּוי ִים‬ ‫ ׁשְטּופַת ּדֶ מַע־ ָו ֶקסֶם‬,‫ַאז ּתִ ׁשְַאל ָה ֻאּמָה‬ ,‫ ׁשֹו ְקטִים‬,‫ּׁשנַי ִם‬ ְ ‫ מִי אַּתֶ ם? ְו ַה‬:‫וְָאמ ְָרה‬ ‫ ֲאנַחְנּו ַמּגַׁש ַה ֶ ּכסֶף‬:‫יַעֲנּו לָּה‬ .‫ׁש ָעלָיו לְָך נִּתְ נָה מְדִ ינָת־ ַהּי ְהּודִ ים‬ ֶ

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

.‫ ְונָפְלּו ל ְַרגְלָּה עֹו ְטפֵי־צֵל‬.‫ָכְּך יֺאמְרּו‬ .‫ְו ַהּׁשְַאר י ְ ֻסּפָר ְבּתֹולְדֹות יִׂש ְָראֵל‬

96

The Silver Platter

Natan Alterman, “‫ ”מגש הכסף‬/ “The Silver Platter.” Translated from the original Hebrew and edited by Esther Raizen, No Rattling of Sabers: An Anthology of Israeli War Poetry, Copyright © 1995. By permission of University of Texas Press, 20–23. © Natan Alterman and ACUM. Poster design by Kristen Miranda. Student-Curator Jenna Kershenbaum.

In preparation for ceremony she rises athwart the moon’s crescent And stands, before daybreak, swathed in cele­bration and awe. —­—­Then from afar come A maid and a youth And slowly, slowly they pace t­ owards the Nation. Clad in ordinary attire but with military harness and heavy-­booted, In the path they proceed, Advancing without speaking. They have not changed their clothing nor yet laved-­away with ­water The marks of the day of toil and the night in the line of fire. Infinitely weary, withdrawn from rest, Dripping with the dew of Hebrew youth —­— Quietly the two approach Then stand motionless, And ­there is no sign w ­ hether they yet live or have been shot. Then the Nation asks, flooded by tears and wonderment, Who are you? and the two softly Answer her: We are the silver platter Upon which was served to you the Jewish state. Thus they say, and fall at her feet, shrouded with shadow. And the rest ­shall be told in the history of Israel. Article VIII. Natan Alterman (1910–1970) Article IX.

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98

Still I Rise

Pourtant je m’élève

You may write me down in history With your ­bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Vous pouvez me citer dans l’histoire Avec vos mensonges amers et tordus, Vous pouvez m’enfoncer dans la boue Mais, comme la poussière, je m’élèverai.

Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? ’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells Pumping in my living room.

Mon arrogance vous perturbe-­t-­elle? Pourquoi sombrer dans la tristesse? Parce que je marche comme si j’avais des puits Pompant leur pétrole dans mon salon.

Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I’ll rise.

Tout comme les lunes et les soleils, Avec la certitude des marées, Tout comme les espoirs toujours vivaces, Je vais encore m’élever.

Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops, Weakened by my soulful cries?

Désirez-­vous me voir brisée? Tête inclinée, regard baissé? Les épaules tombantes comme des larmes, Affaiblie par mes pleurs inspirés?

Does my haughtiness offend you? ­Don’t you take it awful hard ’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines Diggin’ in my own backyard.

Mon orgueil vous offense-­t-il? Si dur pour vous à supporter? Parce que je ris comme si j’avais des mines d’or Creusées dans mon arrière-­cour.

You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Vous pouvez m’abattre avec vos mots, Me cisailler avec vos yeux, Me tuer avec votre haine, Mais, comme l’air, je m’élèverai.

Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I’ve got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs?

Ma sensualité vous bouleverse-­t-­elle? Est-il vraiment si surprenant Que je danse comme si je cachais des diamants A la jointure de mes cuisses?

Out of the huts of history’s shame I rise Up from a past that’s rooted in pain I rise I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. Leaving ­behind nights of terror and fear I rise

Sortie des huttes de l’histoire honteuse Je m’élève Extraite d’un passé enraciné dans la douleur Je m’élève Je suis un océan noir, vaste et bondissant, Montant et enflant je résiste à la marée.

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CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise.

Laissant derrière les nuits de terreur et de peur Je m’élève Vers une aube infiniment claire Je m’élève Apportant les cadeaux offerts par mes ancêtres, Je suis le rêve et l’espoir de l’esclave. Je m’élève Je m’élève Je m’élève.

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

Article X. Ma­ya Angelou (1928–2014)

100

Ma­ya Angelou, “Still I Rise” from And Still I Rise: A Book Of Poems, copyright © 1978 by Ma­ya Angelou. Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC, 41–42. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission of the Little Brown Book Group Limited through PLSclear. “Pourtant je m’élève.” French translation by Mathilda Légitimus and Samuel Légitimus. © Collectif James Baldwin. Available from: https://­f r​-­f r​.­facebook​.­com​/­notes​/­james​-­baldwin​-­collectif​ /­traduction​-­de​-­4​-­des​-­poèmes​-­les​-­plus​-­fameux​-­de​-­maya​ -­angelou​/­10153613816177768​/­. Web. Fall 2017. Poster design by Devon Monaghan. Student-Curator Faith Hoatson.

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visual

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poeti

Alle Tage

­Every Day

Der Krieg wird nicht mehr erklärt, sondern fortgesetzt. Das Unerhörte ist alltäglich geworden. Der Held bleibt den Kämpfen fern. Der Schwache ist in die Feuerzonen gerückt. Die Uniform des Tages ist die Geduld, die Auszeichnung der armselige Stern der Hoffnung über dem Herzen.

War is not declared any more, but simply continued. The terrible is an everyday ­thing. The hero stays far from ­battles. The weakling is moved into the firing lines. The uniform of the day is patience, its decoration the shabby star of hope above the heart.

Er wird verliehen, wenn nichts mehr geschieht, wenn das Trommelfeuer verstummt, wenn der Feind unsichtbar geworden ist und der Schatten ewiger Rüstung den Himmel bedeckt.

It is conferred when nothing more happens, when the drumfire stops, when the e­ nemy has become invisible, and the shadow of eternal armament darkens the sky.

Er wird verliehen für die Flucht von den Fahnen, für die Tapferkeit vor dem Freund, für den Verrat unwürdiger Geheimnisse und die Nichtachtung jeglichen Befehls.

It is conferred for the deserting of flags, for courage in the face of friends, for the betrayal of despicable secrets and disregard of all commands.

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

Article XI. Ingeborg Bachmann (1926–1973)

102

Ingeborg Bachmann, Werke, Bd. 1, Gedichte© 1978 ­Piper Verlag GmbH, München; “Alle Tage” / “­Every Day.” Translated from the original German by Michael Hamburger, Modern German Poetry 1910–1960 (Macgibbon & Kee, 1962), 360–361. Reprinted with the permission of Michael Hamburger Trust. Poster design by Melissa Perdomo. Student-Curator Jessica Fitzner assisted by Suchitra Natarajan. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File:Polish infantry marching -2 1939. jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, the ­f ree media repository, https://­ commons​.­wikimedia​.­org​/­w​/­index​.­php​?­title​=F­ ile:Polish​ _­infantry​_ ­marching​_­​-­2 ​_­1939​.j­ pg&oldid​= 6­ 45603602 (accessed May 31, 2022).

103

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

Todos conspiramos

We All Conspire

Estarás como siempre en alguna frontera jugándote en tu sueño lindo y desvencijado recordando los charcos y el confort todo junto

You ­will always be at some border taking risks in your lovely ragged dream remembering still ­waters and comfort at the same time

(...) qué bueno que respires que conspires dicen que madrugaste demasiado que en plena siesta cívica gritaste pero tal vez nuestra verdad sea otra por ejemplo que todos dormimos hasta tarde hasta golpe hasta crisis hasta hambre hasta mugre hasta sed hasta vergüenza (...) pero en el fondo todos conspiramos y no sólo los viejos que no tienen con qué pintar murales de protesta conspiran el cesante y el mendigo y el deudor y los pobres adulones cuyo incienso no rinde como hace cinco años (...) todos conspiran para que al fin logres y esto es lo bueno que quería decirte dejar atrás la cándida frontera y te instales por fin en tus visiones nunca más que inocente nunca menos en tu futuro –­ahora en ese sueño – desvencijado y lindo como pocos.

(...) how g­ reat that you breathe that you conspire they say that you ­rose too early that you shouted in the ­middle of the public siesta but maybe our truth is another one for instance that we all sleep ­until too late ­until blow ­until crisis ­until hunger ­until filth ­until thirst ­until shame (...) but in the end we all conspire not just the old men who have nothing with which to write graffiti the dismissed and the beggar and the indebted and the poor sycophants whose incense d ­ oesn’t yield as it did five years ago (...) all conspire so that in the end you attain and this is the ­great ­thing I wanted to tell you leave ­behind the ­simple border and ­settle in your visions never more than innocent never less in your ­f uture –­now in that dream – ragged and lovely as few dreams are.

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

Article XII. Mario Benedetti (1920–2009)

104

Mario Benedetti, “Todos conspiramos” / “We All Conspire.” Translated from the original Spanish by Sophie Cabot Black and Maria Negroni, Twentieth-­Century Latin American Poetry: A Bilingual Anthology, ed. Stephen Tapscott (University of Texas Press, 1996), 271–272. © Fundación Mario Benedetti, c/o Schavelzon Graham Agencia Literaria, www​.­schavelzongraham​.­com. Poster design by Jocelyn Orante. Student-Curator Ethel M. Osorio assisted by Marcy Schwartz, Marissa Schwartz, Lauren Riecker, Bryan Korth, Corinne Dexter and Marissa Mathurin.

105

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

Stelă

Stele

Simbolul palmelor înălțate Pe stela unui copil din vremea lui August, Formă de protest în fața Unei întâmplări contranaturii, Împotrivire nu la moartea în sine, Ci doar la felul în care și-­a permis Să încalce contractul cu viața. Simbolul palmelor înălțate fără brațe, Doar cu degete depărtate-­ntre ele Ca și cum s-ar feri de ceva Sau ar vrea să oprească ceva, Ceva ce nu poate fi oprit cu mâinile goale: O spaimă și o împotrivire vii încă Pe stela unui copil mort De două mii de ani.

The symbol of raised palms Above the gravestone of a child in the times of Augustus Is a cry of protest against An unnatural event, Not a rejection of death in itself, But only of this par­tic­u­lar Infringement of death’s contract with life. The symbol of raised palms, without arms With the fin­gers spread out As though to ward off something, That something that cannot be detained by empty hands: Terror and condemnation living still Above the gravestone of a dead child Two thousand years ago.

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

Article XIII. Ana Blandiana (1942–)

106

Ana Blandiana, “Stelă.” Patria Mea A4 (Bucharest: Humanitas, 2010), 56; “Stele.” Translated from the original Romanian by Viorica Patea and Paul Scott Derrick, My Native Land A4 (Bloodaxe Books, 2014), 52. Reproduced with permission of Bloodaxe Books. www​ .­bloodaxebooks​.­com. Poster design by Kristen Miranda. Student-Curator Veronika Szabó assisted by Diana Schiau-­Botea.

107

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

108

Lingua e dialettu

Language and Dialect

Un populu  mittitulu a catina  spugghiatulu  attuppatici a  vucca,  è ancora libiru. 

A ­People  put them in chains  strip them naked  gag their  mouths,  they are still ­f ree. 

Livatici u  travagghiu  u passaportu  a tavula unni  mancia  u lettu unni dormi,  è ancora riccu. 

Take away  their livelihood  their freedom to travel  the t­ able  where they eat  the bed they sleep in,  they are still rich. 

Un populu,  diventa poviru e  servu,  quannu ci arrubbanu  a lingua  addutata di patri:  è persu pi sempri. 

A ­People  become impoverished  and servile,  when taken from them  the language  endowed by their ­fathers:  is lost forever.

[...]

[...]

Minn’addugnu ora,  mentri accordu a  chitarra du  dialettu  ca perdi na corda  lu jornu. 

Now I understand  as I fin­ger the guitar frets of the dialect  that each day  another chord is lost.

[...]

[...]

Nuàtri l’avevamu a  matri,  nni l’arrubbaru;  aveva i minni a  funtani di latti  e ci vìppiru tutti,  ora ci sputanu. 

We once had  a ­mother,  they stole her; she had breasts  overflowing with milk  that every­one drank,  now she is spat upon. 

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CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

Nni ristò a vuci  d’idda,  a cadenza,  a nota vascia  du sonu e du  lamentu:  chissi non nni  ponnu rubari. 

Her voice stayed  with us,  the intonation,  the soft note  the sound and the  lament:  ­these they could not  take from us.

Nni ristò a sumigghianza, l’annatura, i gesti, i lampi nta l’occhi: chissi non nni ponnu rubari.

And remaining still the similitude, the way of walking, the gestures, the sparkling eyes: ­these they can not take from us.

Non nni ponnu  rubari,  ma ristamu poviri  e orfani u stissu. 

They can not  take them from us,  but ­we’re impoverished  and orphaned all the same.

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Article XIV. Ignazio Buttitta (1899–1997)

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Ignazio Buttitta, “Lingua e dialettu” / “Language and Dialect.” Translated from the original Sicilian by Arthur V. Dieli (Genealogia Dieli Genealogy, 2013). Available from: http://­w ww​.­dieli​.­net​/­SicilyPage​/­Poetry​ /­Buttitta​.­html. Web. 27 August 2020. Poster design by Devon Monaghan. Student-Curator Ingrid Kuribayashi assisted by Joanne Villafañe.

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poeti

Impresión de destierro

Impression of Exile

Fué la pasada primavera, Hace ahora casi un año, En un salón del viejo T ­ emple, en Londres, Con viejos muebles. Las ventanas daban, Tras edificios viejos a lo lejos, Entre la hierba el gris relámpago del río. Todo era gris y estaba fatigado, Igual que el iris de una perla enferma.

It was last spring, Now almost a year ago, In a room of the old T ­ emple, in London, With ancient furniture. The win­dows looked Out beyond old buildings into the distance, Amidst the grass the grey flash of the river. Every­thing was grey and was tired, Just the color of a sick pearl.

Eran señores viejos, viejas damas, En los sombreros plumas polvorientas. Un susurro de voces allá por los rincones, Junto a mesas con tulipanes amarillos, Retratos de familia y teteras vacías. La sombra que caía Con un olor a gato, Despertaba ruidos en cocinas.

­ here w T ­ ere old gentlemen and old ladies, On their hats dusty feathers. A murmur of voices over ­there in the corners, Near ­tables with yellow tulips, ­Family portraits and empty tea pots. The darkness that was falling With an odor of cats, Was awakening sounds in kitchens.

Un hombre silencioso estaba Cerca de mí. Veía La sombra de su largo perfil algunas veces Asomarse abstraído al borde de la taza, Con la misma fatiga Del muerto que volviera Desde la tumba a una fiesta mundana.

A ­silent man was Near me. I saw The shadow of his long profile several times Absentmindedly peep over the rim of his cup, With the weariness Of a dead person that comes back From the grave to a worldly feast.

En los labios de alguno, Allá por los rincones Donde los viejos juntos susurraban, Densa tal una lágrima cayendo, Brotó de pronto una palabra: España.

On the lips of someone, Over ­there in the corner Where the old ­people ­were whispering together, Compact like a falling tear, Suddenly ­there broke forth one word: Spain.

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Article XV. Luis Cernuda (1902–1963)

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Luis Cernuda, ‘Impresión de destierro’ (from the book La Realidad y el Deseo, section VII: Las Nubes) © Herederos de Luis Cernuda; “Impression of Exile.” Translated from the original Spanish by Eleanor Turnbull, Con­temporary Spanish Poetry: Se­lections from Ten Poets, ed. Pedro Salinas (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1945), 370–371. © 1945 Francis T. Kidder. Reprinted with the permission of Johns Hopkins University Press. Poster design by Jia Hang Zhang. Student-Curator Francisco Rodriguez.

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Άρδανα ΙΙ

Ardana II

Νὰ τῆς μιλήσω Τουρκικὰ δε ν̀ ἤξερα. -­ Μιλᾶτε ’Αγγλικά ; -­ Καταλαβαίνω. -­ Αὐτὸ εἶναι τὸ σπίτι μου ; -­ Αὐτὸ εἶναι τὸ σπίτι σου.

I could not speak to her in Turkish. –­  Do you speak En­glish? –­  I can understand. –­  Is this my ­house? –­  This is your ­house.

Κι ἀρχίνησα ἕνα κλάμα μὲς στὸν ὕπνο μου. ’Εκεῖνο τοῦ ἀποχαιρετισμοῦ. Μὰ τ’ ἀναφιλητά μου μ’ ἀνασήκωναν σὰν καρυδότσουφλο καὶ ξύπνησα, Πυλάδη.

And I started weeping in my sleep. That cry of farewell. But my sobs ­were rocking me like a cockleshell, so I woke up, Pylades.

Βρεγμένο τὸ κρεβάτι μου —­ τ’ ὄνειρο μήπως ἔσταζε ἀπὸ τὴν ὀροφή του ; — ἐμεῖς οἱ δυὸ τὸ βλέπουμε, τὸ ξέρουμε, τὸ ζοῦμε κιόλας : « Χάθηκε ὁ στρατός μας ! » Τίποτα πιά, κανένα πλοῖο ἐν ὄψει, καμιὰ στεριά, κανένα σπίτι, φίλε. Καὶ ὅμως τὸ ξωπόρτιν ἦταν τὸ ἴδιο, τὸ στενοσόκακο ἴδιο, ὁ λάκκος ἦταν ἴδιος, ἡ τερατσιά, ὁ φοῦρνος, τὸ τρακτέρ, ἡ μάντρα ἦταν ἴδια. Κι ἐγὼ καμία σχέση μὲ τὸ σπίτι. Δὲν τ’ ἀναγνώριζα. Στεκόμουν στὴν αὐλή μου κι ἔνιωθα τόσον ἄβολα· στοιχηματίζω, ἂν μὲ θωροῦσες, θά ’βαζες τὰ κλάματα. Μὲς στὴν αὐλή μου καὶ δὲν ἤμουν πιὰ στὸ σπίτι μου, δὲν ἤμουν στὸ χωριό μου —­ ἕνας ξένος, ποὺ ἡ ψυχή του ἀναπαμὸ δὲν εἶχε. -­ Τί φής ; ’Απέξω απὸ τὸ σπίτι σου κι οὔτε ποὺ τ’ ἀναγνώριζες, ἀλήθεια ; -­ Δὲν ἤτανε δικό μου πιά, δὲν ἦταν. Τὸ σπίτι ποὺ γεννήθηκα, Πυλάδη ! Καὶ μάλιστα τὴ ρώτησα : Κυρία, αὐτὸ εἶναι τὸ σπίτι ποὺ γεννήθηκα ; Is this the ­house I was born ? Καὶ μοῦ ’πεν ἡ Τουρκάλα : « Ναί, αὐτὸ εἶναι ». Μυστήριο ! Ποῦ ἤξερε πὼς ἦταν τὸ σπίτι αὐτὸ ποὺ ἐγὼ τὸ φῶς τοῦ ἥλιου πρωτόειδα, πῶς ἦταν τόσο βέβαιη ;

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’Ioύλιoς 1992

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My bed was moist —­could the dream be leaking from its roof? We too can see that, know that, live that even: “Our army is gone!” Nothing remains, no ship in sight, no land, no home, my friend. And yet the front door was the same, the narrow street the same, the well the same, the carob tree, the clay oven, the tractor, and the fold, all w ­ ere the same. And I had no relation with the ­house. I did not recognize it. I was standing inside its yard and I was feeling so uncomfortable; I bet, if you could see me, you would break down in tears. Inside my yard, and yet I was no longer in my home, no longer in my village —­an alien, whose soul just could not rest in peace. –­ Τί φῄς;* Outside your ­house and you ­couldn’t even recognize it, is that true? –­  It was no longer mine; it was not. The ­house I was born in, Pylades! I even asked her: “Madam, is this the h ­ ouse I was born in?” And the Turkish ­woman told me: “Yes, this is it.” What a mystery! How did she know this was the ­house, where I first saw the light of day, how could she be so certain? July 1992 Article XVI. Kyriakos Charalambides (1940–­) Article XVII. Article XVIII. Article XIX. Kyriakos Charalambides, “Άρδανα ΙΙ.” Μεθιστορία (Metahistory) (Agra, 1995), 93; “Ardana II.” Translated from the original Cypriot Greek by Antonis K. Petrides. Available from: https://­a ntonispetrides​.­wordpress​.­com​ /­2014​/­05​/­04​/­a rdana​-­ii​/­. Web. 27 August 2020. Poster design by Rawan Haroun. Student-Curator Ian C. Lovoulos assisted by Emily Kafas. * Untranslated Cypriot dialect: “What are you saying?”

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Un Pașaport Colectiv

A Collective Passport

O țară pierdută ca un copil în tîrgul stelelor o țară învinsă dar nu ca o femeie în dragoste (astăzi femeile înving și aici –­ce disperare...) bătută la un straniu pocher cu adversari invizibili o țară cu alexandrini jugulați de topica urlată a haitei –­barbarii au fost ultimii delicați poate ultimii poeți o țară cu surâsul la rever ca o garoafă uscată plânsul ei desenează o hartă pe creier o moară de vânt o spadă captivă o țară cu un singur poet cîtă tristețe țară de pașale ținut de cadîne pământ de ghiauri o patrie de sîrmă ghimpată în care inimi mor agățate matrie cu iadul la vedere –­prevăd ceva în viitor eu profetul acestui popor cu muza adormită: o biblie națională cu pagini netăiate niciodată citite – un pașaport colectiv. goală.

A country lost like a child in the star market a country defeated but not like a ­woman in love (­these days ­women conquer h ­ ere –­how desperately...) beaten in a strange game by an invisible adversary, a country brought u ­ nder the Alexandrian yoke a choked topic howled by the pack –­the barbarians ­were actually quite delicate maybe the last poets a country with a smile on its lapel like a dry carnation drawing a tear-­stained map on the brain a windmill a sheathed sword a country with only one poet such a sad country of pashas kept as odalisques in a land of giaours a fatherland of barbed wire snagged with dead hearts a motherland with hell to see –­what I foresee I the prophet of this rabble with the sleeping muse: a national bible unopened the pages uncut – a collective passport. unstamped.

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

Article XX. Nicolae Coande (1962–) Article XXI. Article XXII. Article XXIII.

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Nicolae Coande, “Un Pașaport Colectiv” / “A Collective Passport.” Translated from the original Romanian and edited by Martin Woodside, Of Gentle Wolves: An Anthology of Romanian Poetry (Calypso Editions, 2011), 64–65. Poster design by Rawan Haroun. Student-Curator Veronika Szabó assisted by Tudor Tarina.

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‫السروة انکسرت‬ ‫»السروة شجن الشجرة وليس‬ ‫ وال ظل لها‬،‫الشجرة‬ «‫النها ظل الشجرة‬ ‫بسام حجار‬ ْ ‫اٌلسروةُ اُن َك َس َر‬ ‫ ونامت في‬،‫ت كمئذن ٍة‬ ،ً‫ داكنة‬،‫ خضرا َء‬،‫الطريق على تَقَ ُّشف ظلِّها‬ ‫ َمرّت‬.‫صبْ أح ٌد بسوء‬ َ ُ‫ لم ي‬.‫كما ِه َي‬ ُ ‫ال َع َر‬ ‫ هَبَّ الغبا ُر‬.‫ْر َعةً على أغصانها‬ ِ ‫بات ُمس‬ ْ ُ‫ أاسروة‬/...‫على الزجاج‬ َّ ‫ولكن‬ ،‫انكسرت‬ ‫دار‬ َّ ‫الحمامةَ لم تغيرِّ ُع َّشها ال َعلَن‬ ٍ ‫ي في‬ ‫ وحلّق طائران مهاجران على‬.‫ُم َجاور ٍة‬ .‫بعض الرموز‬ ‫ وتبادال‬،‫َكفَاف مكانها‬ َ ‫ت عاصفةً؟‬ ِ ‫ شاهَ ْد‬،‫ تُ َرى‬:‫وقالت امرأةٌ لجارتها‬ ُ‫ والسروة‬/...ً‫ والجرَّافة‬،‫ ال‬:‫فقالت‬ ْ :‫ وقال العابرون على الحُطام‬.‫انكسرت‬ ْ ‫ أو ه َِر َم‬،‫ت من اإلهمال‬ ْ ‫لعلَّها َسئ َم‬ ‫ت‬ ُ‫ وقليلة‬، ‫ فَ ْه َي طويلةٌ كزراف ٍة‬،‫من األيّام‬ .‫عاشقَيْن‬ ِ ‫ والتُظَلَّ ُل‬،‫المعنى كمكنس ِة الغبار‬ ُ :ٌ‫وقال طفل‬ ،‫كنت أَرسمها بال خطأ‬ َّ ‫ إن‬:ٌ‫ وقالت طفاة‬.ٌ‫فإن قوا َمها َس ْهل‬ .‫السما َء اليوم ناقصةٌ ألن السروة انكسرت‬ ٌ‫ولكن السماءَ اليوم كاملة‬ َّ :‫وقال فت ًى‬ ْ ُ ْ ُ ‫ وقلت أنا‬.‫ألن السروهَّ انكسرت‬ ،‫موض وال ُوضُو َح‬ ‫ ال ُغ‬:‫لنفسي‬ َ ْ ‫ وهذا ُكلُّ ما في‬،‫انكسرت‬ ‫السروة‬ ْ َّ : ‫األمر‬ !‫انكسرت‬ ‫إن السروة‬ ِ

The Cypress Broke The cypress is the tree’s grief and not the tree, and it has no shadow ­because it is the tree’s shadow                                 Bassam Hajjar The cypress broke like a minaret, and slept on the road upon its chapped shadow, dark, green, as it has always been. No one got hurt. The vehicles sped over its branches. The dust blew into the windshields ... / The cypress broke, but the pigeon in a neighboring ­house ­didn’t change its public nest. And two mi­grant birds hovered above the hem of the place, and exchanged some symbols. And a ­woman said to her neighbor: Say, did you see a storm? She said: No, and no bulldozer ­either ... / And the cypress broke. And ­those passing by the wreckage said: Maybe it got bored with being neglected, or it grew old with the days, it is long like a giraffe, and ­little in meaning like a dust broom, and c­ ouldn’t shade two lovers. And a boy said: I used to draw it perfectly, its figure was easy to draw. And a girl said: The sky ­today is incomplete ­because the cypress broke. And a young man said: But the sky ­today is complete ­because the cypress broke. And I said to myself: Neither mystery nor clarity, the cypress broke, and that is all ­there is to it: the cypress broke!

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Article XXIV. Mahmoud Darwish (1941–2008) Article XXV. Article XXVI. Article XXVII.

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Mahmoud Darwish, “‫ ”السروة انکسرت‬/ “The Cypress Broke.” Translated from the original Arabic by Fady Joudah, The Butterfly’s Burden: A Bilingual Anthology, ed. Fady Joudah (Copper Canyon Press, 2007), 226–227. Reprinted with the permission of Riad El-­Rayyes Books; “The Cypress Broke” from The Butterfly’s Burden, translated by Fady Joudah. Copyright © 2007 by Mahmoud Darwish. Translation copyright © 2007 by Fady Joudah. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Com­pany, LLC on behalf of Copper Canyon Press, www​.­coppercanyonpress​.­org. Poster design by Rawan Haroun. Student-Curator Naima Ouhamou assisted by Paris Downing.

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Les Tragiques

The Tragics

La cloche qui marquait les heures de justice, Trompette des voleurs, ouvre aux forfaits la lice : Ce g­ rand palais du droit fut contre droit choisi Pour arborer au vent l’étendard cramoisi. Guerre sans ennemi, où l’on ne trouve à fendre Cuirasse que la peau, ou la chemise tendre ; L’un se défend de voix, l’autre assaut de la main ; L’un y porte le fer, l’autre y prête le sein ; Difficile à juger qui est le plus astorge : L’un à bien égorger, l’autre à tendre la gorge. Tout pendard parle haut, tout équitable craint, Exalte ce qu’il hait ; qui n’a crime le feint : Il n’est garçon, enfant, qui quelque sang n’épanche Pour n’être vu honteux s’en aller la main blanche. Les prisons, les palais, les châteaux, les logis, Les cabinets sacrés, les chambres, et les lits Des Princes, leur pouvoir, leur secret, leur sein même Furent marqués des coups de la tuerie extrême : Rien ne fut plus sacré quand on vit par le Roi Les autels violés, les pleiges de la foi. Les Princesses s’en vont de leurs lits, de leurs chambres D’horreur, non de pitié, pour ne toucher aux membres Sanglants et détranchés que le tragique jour Mena chercher la vie au nid du faux amour. Libitine marqua de ses couleurs son siège Comme le sang des faons rouille les dents du piège, Ces lits pièges fumants non pas lits, mais tombeaux Où l’amour et la mort troquèrent de flambeaux.

The bell that used to mark the hours of justice, Now a clarion of thieves, opens up the field To crimes: this ­great palace of law was chosen against Laws to hoist the crimson standard to the winds. War without ­enemy, where one can only cut Through skin instead of armor, or a delicate shirt; Some resist with their words, some attack with their hands; Some strike with a blade, ­others bare their chests; It is hard to judge who is the most benumbed, He who slices a throat, or he who offers it. ­Every scoundrel blusters, all the fair-­minded blanch, Extoll what they hate; whoever did not kill Pretends he did; ­there ­isn’t a boy, a child, who ­won’t spill blood, Lest he be caught retreating in shame, hands unsoiled. The prisons, the palaces, the ­castles, the ­houses, The sacred chambers, the bedrooms, the beds Of the Princes, their power, their secrets, their very hearts ­Were struck by the blows of the ultimate carnage: Nothing remained holy once the King was seen Violating the altars, the pledges of faith. The Princesses are leaving their beds, their rooms, Out of horror, not pity, so as not to touch The bleeding, mangled bodies that this tragic day Led to search for life in the nest of false love. Libitina marked love’s abode with her colors, Like the blood of fawns rusts the teeth of a trap: ­Those beds –­steaming traps, not beds indeed, but tombs Where love and death have exchanged their torches.

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Article XXVIII. Agrippa D’Aubigné (1552–1630)

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Agrippa D’Aubigné, “Les Tragiques” / “The Tragics,” excerpt, lines 837–864 from Book 5, “Les Fers” / “The Swords.” in Les Tragiques, Volume 1, ed. Jean-­Raymond Fanlo (Paris: Honoré Champion, 1995), 504–507. Modernized spelling of the original French and unpublished En­glish translation by François Cornilliat. Poster design by Jessica Weisser.

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Une lettre de femme

A ­Woman’s Letter

Les femmes, je le sais, ne doivent pas écrire ; J’écris pourtant, Afin que dans mon cœur au loin tu puisses lire Comme en partant.

I know ­women are not supposed to write; Yet write I w ­ ill, So you may read in my heart from afar As from my sill.

Je ne tracerai rien qui ne soit dans toi-­même Beaucoup plus beau : Mais le mot cent fois dit, venant de ce qu’on aime, Semble nouveau.

No line I pen w ­ ill approach the beauty Inscribed in you: Yet sent by one we love, the stalest word Seems ever new.

Qu’il te porte au bonheur ! Moi, je reste à l’attendre, Bien que, là-­bas, Je sens que je m’en vais, pour voir et pour entendre Errer tes pas.

May it bring you delight! I’ll stand waiting, Even as I Drift over ­there to watch your wandering With ear and eye.

Ne te détourne point s’il passe une hirondelle Par le chemin, Car je crois que c’est moi qui passerai, fidèle, Toucher ta main.

­ on’t turn away if a swallow alights D Around the bend, For I believe it’s me, faithfully come To touch your hand.

Tu t’en vas, tout s’en va ! Tout se met en voyage, Lumière et fleurs ; Le bel été te suit, me laissant à l’orage, Lourde de pleurs.

When you leave, all ­things leave! They all depart, Flowers and glow; The summer goes with you. I’m left with storms, Rife with sorrow.

Mais si l’on ne vit plus que d’espoir et d’alarmes Cessant de voir, Partageons pour le mieux : moi, je retiens les larmes, Garde l’espoir.

Yet if one lives, seeing no more, only On hope and pain, Let’s divide it rightly: I’ll cling to tears, Hope you’ll retain.

Non, je ne voudrais pas, tant je te suis unie, Te voir souffrir : Souhaiter la douleur à sa moitié bénie, C’est se haïr.

Bound as I am to you, I could not yearn To see you ache: A wish of grief upon one’s blessed half Is but self-­hate.

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Article XXIX. Marceline Desbordes-­Valmore (1786–1859) Article XXX.

122

Marceline Desbordes-­Valmore, “Une lettre de femme” / “A ­Woman’s Letter,” Les Poètes maudites, ed. Paul Verlaine (Paris: Léon Vanier, 1888), 58–59. Unpublished translation from the original French by Mary Shaw and François Cornilliat. Poster design by Kristen Miranda. StudentCurator Ouafaa Deleger assisted by Emma Burston.

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હુ ં : કવિ –­ છું તૈયાર ?

I : A Poet –­Am Ready?

જોતજોતામાં નગર કંકર, નગર પથ્થર, નગર ખંજર, નગર નશ્તર, નગર ખંડર, નગર તણખો, નગર ભડકો, નગર ભડથુ,ં નગર.....આમ નગર-­નગર કરતી’તી ત્યાં તો કોશ, કોદાળી, પાવડા, કાકડા, હાથબોમ્બ ને કલમ વિંઝતાં ટોળે ટોળાં ત ૂટી પડે છે અને મારી કલમ અથડાય છે ઈતિહાસનાં અસ્થિપિંજરો ઉપર હ.ૂ ...હ.ૂ .....કરતો વાયરો જાણે આળસ મરડીને ઊઠતો પ્રેતધ્વનિ. ને ધમરોળાય છે સંસ્કૃતિના અડીખમ આધારસ્તંભો. હયાતીની આછી આછી આસ્થાની આંખોમાં એ તો ધ ૂળ ઝોકતો, ન્હોર ભોંકતો, લોહી ઓકતો ધ ૂમી વળે છે . ચારે કોર જોતજોતાંમાં ફોડી નંખાય છે દ્રષ્ટિ અને રૂંધી નંખાય છે દિશાઓને ઊતરડાય છે ચામડી ચરરરરડ માણસજાતની. જોતજોતાંમાં ઊગી જાય છે ન્હોર ને થોર માણસજાતને. આ કાવતરાના સાક્ષી માત્ર બનીને જ મારે રહી જવાનુ ં છે ? ! હુ ં : કવિ. મારાથી ખબરપત્રી થઈને રહેવાત ું નથી અને ભાટચારણ બનીને મારે જીવવું નથી. કચકચાવીને કંઈક કહેવ ું છે મારે આ કાવતરા વિશે. પણ એ માટે તો મારે મારી કલમને કાઢવી પડે કૂવામાંથી બહાર કૂવો : બાપનો કૂવો કૂવો : બાપદાંદાનો કૂવો કૂવો : અમારે -­બૈરાંઓને-બ ­ ૂડી મરવાનુ ં એક માત્ર આશ્રયસ્થાન.... તો......કૂવો કહેતાં તે આ -­ ને એમાંથી કાઢવી હોય કલમ તો......એમાં નાખવી પડે બિલાડી.

In a moment the city turns to pebble, stone, dagger, razor ruin, spark, flame, ash In a moment, mobs with hammer, pickaxe, shovel and hand grenade pulverise the city My pen collides with the skele­tons of history Winds howl, like the death rattle of corpses waking from their slumber Whirling winds of death shake the very pillars of civilisation Hurling dust into an ebbing faith in life Sinking claws, vomiting blood everywhere. In a moment, vision is blinded and directions obscured, The skin of humanity flayed off I: a poet I cannot exist as a mere reporter. Nor as a court bard. I want to grit my teeth and speak without mincing my words about this conspiracy But for that I must retrieve my pen from a deep dark well — my ­father’s well, my ancestral well, the well that is the final refuge of ­women who dive to their own shameful death. I have to throw in a fishing hook, and pull out my pen, a brand new pen with my hands alone.

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Article XXXI. Saroop Dhruv (1948–)

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Saroop Dhruv, “હું: કવિ -­ છું તૈયાર?” / “I: A Poet -­Am Ready?” Original Gujarati poem and En­glish translation by the author with input from Gaurang Mehta, Poetry International Web, Samvedan Sanskritic Manch, 1995. Available from: https://­w ww​.­poetryinternational​.­org​/­pi​/­poem​/­9984​/a­ uto​/0­ ​ /­0​/­Saroop​-­Dhruv​/­ITS​-­A LL​-­IN​-­MY​-­H ANDS. Web. 27 August 2020. Poster design by Sunhith Reddy. Student-Curator Neil Shah assisted by Drashti Mehta.

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The Sewing ­Table

La ­Table de Couture

A soft pinewood ­table scored with needle scars was sal­vaged from an east side sweat shop a locked airless space where sewing girls in flight from pogroms in Poland, Rus­sia and Moldova dreamed of Amer­i­ca’s ­table of plenty.

Une ­table en pin tendre ravagée de coups d’aiguilles récupérée dans une chiourme de l’east side étouffoir verrouillé où des couturières fuyant les pogroms de Pologne, de Russie et de Moldavie rêvaient de la ­table d’abondance américaine.

Recycled for dining in a Tribeca loft it could seat twelve but fell short and stood unused along a white brick wall as worms invisibly threaded themselves into its wooden legs shredded by cats clawing for prey at unremembered trees. In the interests of hygiene, minimalism princi­ples of Feng Shui and traveling light it was chopped up for firewood ashes for the second millennium of mass migrations, bombed out homes and abandoned ­tables blasted into trash.

Recyclée dans un loft de Tribeca on y dînait à douze, ce n’était pas assez on la relègue contre un mur de briques blanches les vers se faufilent invisiblement dans ses pieds de bois lacérés par des chats griffant en quête de proie un arbre oublié. Au nom de l’hygiène, des principes minimalistes du feng shui et de l’art de voyager léger on la débite en bois à brûler cendres pour ce second millénaire de migrations de masse, de maisons explosées et de ­tables abandonnées broyées dans les ordures.

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Article XXXII. Marie Josephine Diamond (1940–2017)

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Marie Josephine Diamond, “The Sewing ­Table” / “La ­Table de Couture.” Unpublished poem, Unpublished French translation by Mary Shaw and François Cornilliat. Poster design by Jocelyn Orante.

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I Had No Time to Hate—

Je n’avais pas le temps de Haïr—

I had no time to Hate— ­Because The Grave would hinder Me— And Life was not so Ample I Could finish —­Enmity—

Je n’avais pas le temps de Haïr— Parce que La Tombe Me limiterait— Et la Vie n’était pas assez Ample pour Me Laisser finir—­l ’Inimitié—

Nor had I time to Love— But since Some Industry must be— The ­little Toil of Love— I thought Was large enough for Me—

Et pas davantage le temps d’Aimer— Mais puisqu’ Il faut qu’on s’Emploie— La pe­tite Corvée de l’Amour— Me suis-je dit Est assez grande pour Moi—

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Article XXXIII. Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) Article XXXIV. Article XXXV.

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Emily Dickinson, “I Had No Time to Hate” / “Je n’ai pas eu le temps d’haïr.” Poems, ed. Mabel Loomis Todd and T. W. Higginson (Roberts ­Brothers, 1890), 36. Unpublished French translation by Mary Shaw and François Cornilliat. Poster design by Jessica Weisser. Student-Curator Faith Hoatson.

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‫עוף גוזל‬ ‫הגוזלים שלי עזבו את הקן‬ ‫פרשו כנפיים ועפו‬ ‫ואני ציפור זקנה נשארתי בקן‬ ‫מקווה מאוד שהכל יהיה בסדר‬ ‫תמיד ידעתי שיבוא היום‬ ‫שבו צריך להיפרד‬ ‫אבל עכשיו זה ככה בא לי פתאום‬ ‫אז מה הפלא שאני קצת דואג‬ ‫עוף גוזל‬ ‫חתוך את השמיים‬ ‫טוס לאן שבא לך‬ ‫רק אל תשכח‬ ‫יש נשר בשמיים‬ ‫גור לך‬ ‫עכשיו נשארנו לבדנו בקן‬ ‫אבל אנחנו ביחד‬ ‫חבקי אותי חזק תגידי לי כן‬ ‫אל תדאגי ביחד כיף להזדקן‬ ‫עוף גוזל‬ ‫חתוך את השמיים‬ ‫טוס לאן שבא לך‬ ‫רק אל תשכח‬ ‫יש נשר בשמיים‬ ‫גור לך‬ ‫אני יודע שככה זה בטבע‬ ‫וגם אני עזבתי קן‬ ‫אבל עכשיו כשבא הרגע‬ ‫אז מחניק קצת בגרון‬ ‫מחניק קצת בגרון‬

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‫עוף גוזל‬ ‫חתוך את השמיים‬ ‫טוס לאן שבא לך‬ ‫רק אל תשכח‬ ‫יש נשר בשמיים‬ ‫גור לך‬

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Fly Away Young Chick My chicks left the nest Spread their wings and flew away I am an old bird left in the nest I hope that all ­will be well I always knew the day would come To say goodbye But now when it is ­here No won­der I am worried Fly away chick Cut through the sky Fly wherever you want to Just ­don’t forget ­There is an ea­gle in the sky Be aware Now it is only us in the nest But we are together Hug me tight say yes ­Don’t worry it is fun getting old together Fly away chick Cut through the sky Fly wherever you want to Just ­don’t forget ­There is an ea­gle in the sky Be aware I know it is the way of nature I left a nest as well But now when the time comes I feel a lump in my throat Fly away chick Cut through the sky Fly wherever you want to Just ­don’t forget ­There is an ea­gle in the sky Be aware Article XXXVI. Arik Einstein (1939–2013) Article XXXVII.

Arik Einstein, “‫עוף גוזל‬.” Shironet. Available from: http://­shironet​.­mako​.­co​.­il​/a­ rtist​?­t ype​=­lyr­ics&lang​ =­1&prfid​=­166&wrkid​=2­ 504, Web, 29 Sep 2020, © Arik Einstein and ACUM; “Uf Gozal” / “Fly Away Young Chick.” Translated from the original Hebrew by Chana Shuvaly, Hebrew Songs: Your Online Library of Hebrew Songs. Available from: http://­w ww​.­hebrewsongs​.­com​/­​?­song​=­ufgozal. Web. 29 Sep 2020. Poster design by Opinder Singh. Student-Curator Jenna Kershenbaum assisted by Jason Scot.

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Ἔνα τò χελιδόνι EΝΑ τò χελιδόνι * κι ἡ Ἄνοιξη ἀκριβή Γιὰ νὰ γυρίσει ὁ ἥλιος * θέλει δουλειὰ πολλή Θέλει νεκροὶ χιλιάδες  * νά ’ναι στοὺς Τροχούς Θέλει κι οἱ ζωντανοὶ * νὰ δίνουν τò αἷμα τους. Θέ μου Πρωτομάστορα * μ’ ἔχτισες μέσα στὰ βουνὰ Θέ μου Πρωτομάστορα * μ’ ἔκλεισες μὲς στὴ θάλασσα ! Πάρθηκεν ἀπò Μάγους * τò σῶμα τοῦ Μαγιοῦ Τό ’χουνε θάψει σ’ ἕνα * μνῆμα τοῦ πέλαγου Σ’ ἕνα βαθὺ πηγάδι * τό ’χουνε κλειστò Μύρισε τò σκοτά * δι κι ὅλη ἡ Ἄβυσσο. Θέ μου Πρωτομάστορα * μέσα στὶς πασχαλιὲς καὶ Σὺ Θέ μου Πρωτομάστορα * μύρισες τὴν Ἀνάσταση ! Σάλεψε σὰν τò σπέρμα * σὲ μήτρα σκοτεινὴ Τò φοβερò τῆς μνήμης * ἔντομο μὲς στὴ γῆ Κι ὅπως δαγκώνει ἀράχνη * δάγκωσε τò φῶς Ἔλαμψαν οἱ γιαλοὶ * κι ὅλο τò πὲλαγος. Θέ μου Πρωτομάστορα * μ’ ἔζωσες τὶς ἀκρογιαλιές Θέ μου Πρωτομάστορα  * στὰ βουνὰ μὲ θεμέλιωσες !

A Solitary Swallow A SOLITARY swallow * a nd Spring’s ­great worth is found It takes a lot of work to make the sun turn round Their shoulders to the * it takes a thousand dead Wheels It also takes the living * to offer up their blood.  igh in the mountains God my greatest Master * h You built me God my greatest * You have surrounded me Masterworker with sea! The body of dead May And they have buried it They keep the body sealed The darkness filled all the

* * * *

the Mages took to save entombed in a sea grave away in a deep well Abyss with its sweet smell.

God my greatest * You are in Easter lilacs Masterworker too God my greatest * You smelled the ResurMasterworker rection’s dew! Memory’s terrible And wriggled like a sperm The way a spider bites The beaches all w ­ ere shining

* * * *

insect emerged from earth in a dark womb of birth the light it bit the light the open sea shone bright.

God my greatest * You girt me round with Masterworker coast and sea God my greatest * in the mountains You Masterworker founded me!

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Article XXXVIII. Odysseus Elytis (1911–1996)

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Odysseas Elytis, “Ἕνα τὸ χελιδόνι.” ΤΟ ΑΞΙΟΝ ΕΣΤΙ (Ikaros, 1999), 39, © Ioulita Iliopoulou. Reprinted with permission; “A Solitary Swallow.” Translated from the original Greek by Jeffrey Carson and Nikos Sarris, The Collected Poems of Odysseus Elytis (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004), 148. Poster design by Jocelyn Orante. Student-Curator Ian C. Lovoulos. Image credit: Αλμπανόπουλος, Νικόλαος. “Rebirth.” 2014. Keramoti, Greece. Acrylic on canvas.

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Bedekker

Baedeker

Budapest egy nagy és szabad ország. Budapest területe annyi, amennyi, de ha a lyukakat is beleszámítjuk, akkor több. Budapest a városok városa, rovarok világa, majmok bolygója, satöbbi. Budapest legmagasabb pontja a gé. Budapest története a világmindenség keletkezéséig nyúlik vissza, amikor még viszonylagos béke volt, és az állampolgárok nem akartak mindenáron életellenes cselekedeteket végrehajtani. Budapest teraszáról látni a tengert. Budapest topográfiai szempontból egyedülálló adottságokkal rendelkezik, bevásárlóközpontok veszik körül, és egy világ választja el. Budapest, te csodás. Budapest az egy főre jutó mélytengeri búvárbalesetek vonatkozásában kifejezetten biztonságos településnek számít. Budapest kulturális élete pezsgő, vidékieknek fröccs. Budapesten a költők szoborból vannak, ülnek a seggükön, és nézik, hogyan úszik el. Budapest az európai civilizáció szerelmesei számára kellemetlen meglepetéseket tartogat: egy vaslábosban sárga fű virít, és a parkolójegy-­automaták is meg vannak buherálva. Fontos tanácsok Budapestre készülőknek: Egy. Indulás előtt ne felejtsd el lekapcsolni a bojlert! Kettő, csipkebokorvessző. Három, három és fél. Négy, ne szemétkedj! Öt, ne szórakozz! Hat, ne szólj hozzám! Hét, ne utazz Budapestre! Géntechnológiai szempontból Budapest hihetetlenül gyors iramban fejlődik, de nem mindig, mert néha még a legfinomabb (lángon sütött!) hamburgerre is egy másodpercet várni kell.

Budapest is a nation that’s ­great and ­f ree. Budapest has an area of roughly its own size, even larger if we include all the holes. Budapest is the City of Cities, World of Insects, Planet of the Apes, ­etcetera. Budapest has a highest peak of G. Budapest traces its origins back to the beginnings of the world, a time of relative peace when citizens ­weren’t yet racked with irresistible compulsions to destroy life on this planet. Budapest terrace has a view of the sea. Budapest is quite unique in its topography, ringed by shopping malls, and with a ­whole world in between. Budapest, we love you. Budapest in terms of per capita deep sea diving disasters is a very safe town indeed. Budapest has a sparkling high life, non-­sparkling for lowlives. Budapest has its poets carved in stone, sit upon their arses, watching it go down. Budapest holds nasty surprises for lovers of Eu­ro­pean civilization: yellow grass sprouting from an iron pot, and tweaked parking meters too. Impor­tant advice for visitors to Budapest: One, before you leave, d ­ on’t forget to turn the ­water heater off! Two, tie your shoe. Three, three and a half. Four, ­don’t be a pain! Five, d ­ on’t pester me! Six, ­don’t say another word! Seven, ­don’t go to Budapest! In terms of ge­ne­tic engineering, Budapest has an incredible growth rate, but not always, ­because sometimes even the tastiest (flame-­grilled!) bur­gers take at least a second to arrive. Budapest boasts sights both fantastic and innumerable, such as

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Budapest számtalan fantasztikus látnivalóval büszkélkedhet, ilyen például a fiam, vagy a másik fiam, vagy éppen a Gül baba türbéje, vagy még inkább a Rókus kórház tőszomszédságában az a bizonyos nagyon, de nagyon különös képességű bokor. Budapesten a tavasz tizenhét pillanatból áll. A nyár ellobbant már, viszont itt van az ősz. Budapesten a tél beköszöntével lezuhan a tetőről az első hótömeg. Budapestet időnként vérözön és/vagy lángtenger borítja el, ilyenkor érdemesebb valamely dél-­kaliforniai üdülőparadicsomot felkeresni. Budapest kisváros, Budapest nagyváros, Budapest Virág-­város. Budapesten általában mindig minden rendben van, úgyhogy éjjel-­nappal egytől egyig mindenki örül, még a Köztemető utcaiak is örülnek, de még a Szomory Dezső tériek is örülnek, és én is nagyon örülök, kivéve mikor beüt a krach, mert akkor aztán kezem-­lábam összetöröm, úgy futok az ilyen-­olyan véresszájú banditák elől, végigcikázok az éjszakai fényben fürdő Könyves Kálmán körúton, beugrok egy kisutcába, elrejtőzöm egy aszfalthasadékban, és attól fogva visszafojtott lélegzettel és összeszorított combokkal várom, hogy Bucher CityCat 2020 XL típusú (magasürítésű szennytartállyal és precíziós mosópisztollyal felszerelt!) professzionális seprőgépeivel végre keresztüldübörögjön felettem a hajnal.

my son, or my other son, or Gül Baba’s Türbe, or even more so that squatting shrub down by the Rókus hospital with a certain very, very peculiar ability. Budapest spring consists of seventeen moments. Summer is already smothered, still autumn is ­here. With the onset of winter in Budapest, the first snow banks avalanche from the rooftops. Budapest is occasionally engulfed in spilled blood and/or a lake of fire, on such occasions it is safest to relocate to a Southern Californian resort of your choice. Budapest is a small town, Budapest is a major city, Budapest is a Virág-­metropolis. Generally every­thing in Budapest is always alright, so day in day out absolutely every­one rejoices, even p ­ eople on the blue Búbosbanka Street, and even ­those on glum Szomory Dezső Square, and so do I, except when disaster strikes, which is when I break my arms and legs as I run to escape all manners of blood-­foaming bandits, zig-­zagging along the night lights of Múzeum körút, dodging into an alley, properly concealing myself in an asphalt fissure and from thenceforth I hold my breath and clench my thighs and wait for a Bucher CityCat 2020 XL model (regenerative collector bin and precision sprayer pistol equipped!) professional sweeping machine and dawn to thunder over me.

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Article XXXIX. Virág Erdős (1968–)

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Virág Erdős, “Bedekker.” / “Baedeker” Babel Web Anthology, Babel Matrix. Available from: http://­ www​.­babelmatrix​.­org​/­works​/h ­ u​/­Erd%C5%91s​_­Vir%C3%A1g​-1­ 968​/­Bedekker​/­en​/­54633​-­Baedekker, Web, 27 August 2020, Translated from the original Hungarian by Dániel Dányi. Available from: https://­hlo​.­hu​/­new​-­work​/­baedekker​.­html. Web. 28 Sep 2020. Poster design by Opinder Singh. Student-Curator Veronika Szabó.

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Μήδεια (765–811)

Medea (Excerpt, lines 765–811)

Μήδεια: ὦ Ζεῦ Δίκη τε Ζηνὸς Ἡλίου τε φῶς, νῦν καλλίνικοι τῶν ἐμῶν ἐχθρῶν, φίλαι, γενησόμεσθα κεἰς ὁδὸν βεβήκαμεν, νῦν ἐλπὶς ἐχθροὺς τοὺς ἐμοὺς τείσειν δίκην. οὗτος γὰρ ἁνὴρ ᾗ μάλιστ᾽ ἐκάμνομεν λιμὴν πέφανται τῶν ἐμῶν βουλευμάτων: ἐκ τοῦδ᾽ ἀναψόμεσθα πρυμνήτην κάλων, μολόντες ἄστυ καὶ πόλισμα Παλλάδος. ἤδη δὲ πάντα τἀμά σοι βουλεύματα λέξω: δέχου δὲ μὴ πρὸς ἡδονὴν λόγους. πέμψασ᾽ ἐμῶν τιν᾽ οἰκετῶν Ἰάσονα ἐς ὄψιν ἐλθεῖν τὴν ἐμὴν αἰτήσομαι. μολόντι δ᾽ αὐτῷ μαλθακοὺς λέξω λόγους, ὡς καὶ δοκεῖ μοι ταὐτὰ καὶ καλῶς γαμεῖ γάμους τυράννων οὓς προδοὺς ἡμᾶς ἔχει, καὶ ξύμφορ᾽ εἶναι καὶ καλῶς ἐγνωσμένα. παῖδας δὲ μεῖναι τοὺς ἐμοὺς αἰτήσομαι, οὐχ ὡς λιποῦσ᾽ ἂν πολεμίας ἐπὶ χθονὸς ἐχθροῖσι παῖδας τοὺς ἐμοὺς καθυβρίσαι, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς δόλοισι παῖδα βασιλέως κτάνω. πέμψω γὰρ αὐτοὺς δῶρ᾽ ἔχοντας ἐν χεροῖν, [νύμφῃ φέροντας, τήνδε μὴ φυγεῖν χθόνα,] λεπτόν τε πέπλον καὶ πλόκον χρυσήλατον: κἄνπερ λαβοῦσα κόσμον ἀμφιθῇ χροΐ, κακῶς ὀλεῖται πᾶς θ᾽ ὃς ἂν θίγῃ κόρης: τοιοῖσδε χρίσω φαρμάκοις δωρήματα. ἐνταῦθα μέντοι τόνδ᾽ ἀπαλλάσσω λόγον. ᾤμωξα δ᾽ οἷον ἔργον ἔστ᾽ ἐργαστέον τοὐντεῦθεν ἡμῖν: τέκνα γὰρ κατακτενῶ τἄμ᾽: οὔτις ἔστιν ὅστις ἐξαιρήσεται: δόμον τε πάντα συγχέασ᾽ Ἰάσονος ἔξειμι γαίας, φιλτάτων παίδων φόνον φεύγουσα καὶ τλᾶσ᾽ ἔργον ἀνοσιώτατον. οὐ γὰρ γελᾶσθαι τλητὸν ἐξ ἐχθρῶν, φίλαι. ἴτω: τί μοι ζῆν κέρδος; οὔτε μοι πατρὶς οὔτ᾽ οἶκος ἔστιν οὔτ᾽ ἀποστροφὴ κακῶν. ἡμάρτανον τόθ᾽ ἡνίκ᾽ ἐξελίμπανον δόμους πατρῴους, ἀνδρὸς Ἕλληνος λόγοις πεισθεῖσ᾽, ὃς ἡμῖν σὺν θεῷ τείσει δίκην. οὔτ᾽ ἐξ ἐμοῦ γὰρ παῖδας ὄψεταί ποτε ζῶντας τὸ λοιπὸν οὔτε τῆς νεοζύγου νύμφης τεκνώσει παῖδ᾽, ἐπεὶ κακὴν κακῶς

Medea: God, and God’s Justice, and ye blinding Skies! At last the victory dawneth! Yea, mine eyes See, and my foot is on the mountain’s brow. Mine enemies! Mine enemies, oh, now Atonement cometh! H ­ ere at my worst hour A friend is found, a very port of power To save my shipwreck. ­Here ­will I make fast Mine anchor, and escape them at the last In Athens’ wallèd hill.—­But ere the end ‘Tis meet I show thee all my counsel, friend: Take it, no tale to make men laugh withal! Straightway to Jason I w ­ ill send some thrall To entreat him to my presence. Comes he h ­ ere, Then with soft reasons ­will I feed his ear, How his ­will now is my ­will, how all t­ hings Are well, touching this marriage-­bed of kings For which I am betrayed—­all wise and rare And profitable! Yet ­will I make one prayer, That my two ­children be no more exiled But stay. . . . ​Oh, not that I would leave a child ­Here upon angry shores till ­those have laughed Who hate me: ‘tis that I ­will slay by craft The king’s ­daughter. With gifts they ­shall be sent, Gifts to the bride to spare their banishment, Fine robings and a carcanet of gold. Which raiment let her once but take, and fold About her, a foul death that girl ­shall die And all who touch her in her agony. Such poison ­shall they drink, my robe and wreath! Howbeit, of that no more. I gnash my teeth Thinking on what a path my feet must tread Thereafter. I s­ hall lay ­those ­children dead— Mine, whom no hand ­shall steal from me away! Then, leaving Jason childless, and the day As night above him, I ­will go my road To exile, flying, flying from the blood Of t­ hese my best-­beloved, and having wrought All horror, so but one ­thing reach me not, The laugh of them that hate us. Let it come! What profits life to me? I have no home, No country now, nor shield from any wrong.

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θανεῖν σφ᾽ ἀνάγκη τοῖς ἐμοῖσι φαρμάκοις. μηδείς με φαύλην κἀσθενῆ νομιζέτω μηδ᾽ ἡσυχαίαν, ἀλλὰ θατέρου τρόπου, βαρεῖαν ἐχθροῖς καὶ φίλοισιν εὐμενῆ: τῶν γὰρ τοιούτων εὐκλεέστατος βίος.

That was my evil hour, when down the long Halls of my ­father out I stole, my ­will Chained by a Greek man’s voice, who still, oh, still, If God yet live, ­shall all requited be. For never child of mine ­shall Jason see Hereafter living, never child beget From his new bride, who this day, desolate Even as she made me desolate, ­shall die Shrieking amid my poisons. . . . ​Names have I Among your folk? One light? One weak of hand? An eastern dreamer?—­Nay, but with the brand Of strange suns burnt, my hate, by God above, A perilous ­thing, and passing sweet my love! For t­ hese it is that make life glorious.

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Article XL. Euripedes (ca. 480–ca. 406 bce) Article XLI. Article XLII.

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Euripides, Medea, Ed. David Kovacs (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994), Published online by the Perseus Library. Available from: http://­data​.­perseus​.­org​/­citations​ /­u rn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006​.­tlg003​.­perseus​-­g rc1:764–789. Web. 27 August 2020; Medea of Euripides, Translated from the Ancient Greek by Gilbert Murray (Oxford University Press, 1912), 45–46. Available from: http://­w ww​ .­g utenberg​.­org​/­3​/­5/​ ­4​/­5​/­35451​/­. Web. Fall 2017. Poster design by Ryan Farrell. Student-Curator Kimberly Peterman assisted by Emily Ezzo.

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Warnung.

Warning.

Solche Bücher läßt du drucken! Theurer Freund, du bist verloren! Willst du Geld und Ehre haben, Mußt du dich gehörig ducken.

Dearest friend, thy fate I see, If you write such books as ­these ! Would you gold and honour win, Servile and h ­ umble you must be !

Nimmer hätt’ ich dir gerathen, So zu sprechen vor dem Volke, So zu sprechen von den Pfaffen Und von hohen Potentaten!

Surely you provoke the Fates, Thus to speak unto the ­people, Thus to speak of Priests and Parsons, Thus of Kings and Potentates.

Theurer Freund, du bist verloren! Fürsten haben lange Arme, Pfaffen haben lange Zungen, Und das Volk hat lange Ohren!

Friend, your lot excites my fears ! Kings and Princes have long arms, Priests and Parsons have long tongues, And the ­people have long ears !

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Article XLIII. Heinrich Heine (1797–1856)

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Heinrich Heine, “Warnung.” Neue Gedichte (Hoffmann und Campe, 1844), 228; “Warning.” Translated from the original German by John Ackerlos, Poems Selected from Heinrich Heine (W. Scott, 1887), 225. Poster design by Nicole ­Sullivan. Student-Curator Jessica Fitzner.

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Nanas de la cebolla

Lullabies of the Onion

La cebolla es escarcha cerrada y pobre: escarcha de tus días y de mis noches. Hambre y cebolla: hielo negro y escarcha grande y redonda.

The onion is frost shut in and poor. Frost of your days and of my nights. Hunger and onion, black ice and frost large and round.

(. . .)

(. . .)

Tu risa me hace libre, me pone alas. Soledades me quita, cárcel me arranca. Boca que vuela, corazón que en tus labios relampaguea.

Your laughter ­f rees me, gives me wings. It banishes loneliness, tears down ­these walls. Mouth that flies, heart that flashes on your lips.

Es tu risa la espada más victoriosa. Vencedor de las flores y las alondras. Rival del sol, porvenir de mis huesos y de mi amor.

Your laughter is the supreme sword, conqueror of flowers and larks. Rival of the sun. ­Future of my bones and of my love.

(. . .)

(. . .)

Al octavo mes ríes con cinco azahares. Con cinco diminutas ferocidades. Con cinco dientes como cinco jazmines adolescentes.

In the eight months you laugh with five orange blossoms. With five l­ ittle ferocities, with five teeth like five young jasmine buds.

Frontera de los besos serán mañana, cuando en la dentadura sientas un arma. Sientas un fuego correr dientes abajo buscando el centro.

They ­will be the frontier of kisses tomorrow when you feel a gun in your mouth. When you feel a burning past the teeth searching for the center.

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Vuela niño en la doble luna del pecho. Él, triste de cebolla. Tú, satisfecho. No te derrumbes. No sepas lo que pasa ni lo que ocurre.

Fly, child, on the double moon of her breast: it is saddened by onion, you are satisfied. Never let go. ­Don’t ever know what’s coming, what goes on.

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Article XLIV. Miguel Hernández (1910–1942) Article XLV. Article XLVI.

146

Miguel Hernández, “Nanas de la cebolla” / “Lullabies of the Onion.” Translated from the original Spanish by Philip Levine, The Selected Poems of Miguel Hernández, ed. Ted Genoways (University of Chicago Press, 2001), 350–355. Poster design by Kristen Miranda. StudentCurator Ethel M. Osorio assisted by Marcy Schwartz, Paula Bisbal, Yerlin Brenes, Sarah Schrading, and Jeremy Walrond.

po

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terwoven

peers nc tion re cyep ea u x r n i e n t culstories

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pr et ive

e h t r y

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u a n c e d

whi

g n i sper

ural

visual

languagn e multi-cult

a s n etter tr e rs c g m e t t r e e l t e e e o a n d em ti

tra nsl s a d t e i n o n a n e p rg ex i e lea s rn in

n

tio

na

n la

u g

k s

v e y

reflectio vis lvier n v e e r i l o ihood f i on e g nto s a v en o u nterwovity s s li v e l i h n o o d o s ffi rineclusi r p m ex ed

w o r

t

spiri

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an a l

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c o n exhibition

lanrgiueagse

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bra tion

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s e o e i x t r p t s e e i r o t p s h y t i u n e g n i

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Yaşamaya dair

On Living

II Diyelim ki, ağır ameliyatlık hastayız, yani, beyaz masadan, bir daha kalkmamak ihtimali de var. Duymamak mümkün değilse de biraz erken gitmenin kederini biz yine de güleceğiz anlatılan Bektaşi fıkrasına, hava yağmurlu mu, diye bakacağız pencereden, yahut da sabırsızlıkla bekleyeceğiz en son ajans haberlerini.

II Let’s say ­we’re due for serious surgery, I mean ­there’s a chance we might not get up from the white t­ able. Even if it’s impossible not to feel sorrow at leaving a ­little too early ­we’ll still laugh at the Bektashi joke, ­we’ll look out the win­dow to see if it’s raining, or impatiently await the latest news.

Diyelim ki, dövüşülmeye deşer bir şeyler için, diyelim ki, cephedeyiz. Daha orda ilk hücumda, daha o gün yüzükoyun kapaklanıp ölmek de mümkün. Tuhaf bir hınçla bileceğiz bunu, fakat yine de çıldırasıya merak edeceğiz belki yıllarca sürecek olan savaşın sonunu.

Let’s say ­we’re on the front, for something worth fighting for, let’s say. At the very first assault, on that very day we could keel over and die. ­We’ll know this with a strange resentment, but ­we’ll still won­der madly about how this war, which could last years, ­will end.

Diyelim ki hapisteyiz, yaşımız da elliye yakın, daha da on sekiz sene olsun açılmasına demir kapının. Yine de dışarıyla birlikte yaşayacağız, insanları, hayvanları, kavgası ve rüzgarıyla yani, duvarın ardındaki dışarıyla. Yani, nasıl ve nerede olursak olalım hiç ölünmeyecekmiş gibi yaşanacak... 1948

Let’s say ­we’re in prison and nearly 50, and let’s imagine we have 18 more years before the opening of the iron doors. ­We’ll still live with the outside, with its ­people, its animals, its toil and wind, I mean with the outside beyond the walls. I mean, however and wherever we are we must live as if we ­will never die. 1948

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Article XLVII. Nâzim Hikmet (1902–1963) Article XLVIII. Article XLIX.

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Nâzim Hikmet, “Yasamaya Dair.” 1947. Available from: http://­w ww​.s­ iir​.­gen​.t­ r​/­siir​/n ­ ​/­nazim​_ ­hikmet​ /­yasamaya​_­dair​.­htm, Web, 29 Sep 2020. © Nazim Hikmet Estate, First written February, 1948; “On Living” (part II), The Ecco Anthology of International Poetry, Translated from the original Turkish by Deniz Perin, Ikya Kaminsky and Susan Harris (eds.) (Harper Collins, 2010), 126. Poster design by Devon Monaghan. Student-Curator Ian C. Lovoulos assisted by Görkem Tanriverdi.

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Paixão

Passion

Com a paixão faço e armo a construir-me no excesso

With passion I do I ­battle I undertake my excesses

Apunhalo o coração enveneno o peito aberto

I stab my heart I poison my widely open chest

A paixão é meu destino meu final e meu começo

Passion is my certain fate my end and my beginning

Morrer de amor e de amar é a morte que eu mereço

To die of love and of loving is a death that I deserve

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Article L. Maria Teresa Horta (1937–) Article LI. Article LII.

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Maria Teresa Horta, “Passion” / “Paixão.” Translated from the original Portuguese by Ana Hudson, Poems from the Portuguese: 21st ­Century Poetry, Centro Nacional de Cultura, 2011. Available from: http://­w ww​ .­poemsfromtheportuguese​.­org​/­Maria ​_­Teresa ​_ ­Horta. Web. 27 August 2020. Poster design by Ryan Farrell. Student-Curator Francisco Rodriguez assisted by Paris Downing.

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‫مع االرض‬ ١٩٧٦ ‫بمناسبة يوم االرض ازار‬ ‫وتقتربٌ االرضُ مني‬ ‫وتشربُ مني‬ ُ ‫وتتر‬ ‫ك عندي بساتينَها‬ ً‫لتضحي سالحا ً جميال‬ ‫يداف ُع عني‬ ُ ‫الحلم‬ ‫وحتي اذا نمت في‬ ِ ‫تقتربُ االرضُ مني‬ ‫وبين المنافي اُهرِّ بُ زعت َرها‬ ‫وأنشد احجا َرها‬ ‫وانض ُح حتي دمي من عروقي‬ ‫الشرب أخبا َرها‬ َ

‫ָָארץ‬ ֶ ‫עִם ה‬ 1976 ‫לכבוד יום האדמה‬ ‫הארץ מתקרבת אלי‬ ‫שותה ממני‬ ‫משאירה פרדסים עמי‬ ‫להיות נשק יפה‬ ‫אשר מגן עלי‬

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‫אפילו כשאני ישן‬ ‫הארץ מתקרבת אלי‬ .‫בחלומי‬ ‫אני מבריח את הטימין הפראי שלה‬ ‫בין גלויות‬ ‫אני שר אבניה‬ ‫אני אפילו אזיע דם‬ ‫מוורידי‬ ‫לשתות חדשות ממנה‬

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With the Land For Land Day 1976 The land comes near me drinks from me leaves its orchards with me to become a beautiful weapon defending me Even when I sleep the land comes near me in my dream. I smuggle its wild thyme between exiles I sing its stones I ­will even sweat blood from my veins to drink its news […] Article LIII. Rashid Hussein (1936–1977) Note: The design for this incredible poster was overseen by an interdisciplinary research team of four Rutgers SAS students, Briana Casas (2020), Ashley Fowler (2020), Nisha Khan (2022) and Elena Lisci (2022). Working together with Professor Jenevieve DeLosSantos and with the generous support of Alan Grossman, ­these students played an integral role in shepherding the Poetries –­Politics proj­ect into the next phase. This team undertook proof-­reading of 63 of ­these posters, and along the way added this work, designed by Devon Monaghan to the larger collection. Featuring three languages rather than just two, this work celebrates the spirit of cross-­cultural exchange, as Palestinian poet, Rashid Hussein’s moving words are featured in both Hebrew and En­glish. Compelled by the tone of Hussein’s longing for his homeland, the students worked with Devon closely to help produce this striking image of an impassioned, fiery landscape. Much gratitude is owed to the work of ­these four students. Without them, the reinstallation and review pro­cess would not have been pos­si­ble, and certainly not with the skill, care and dedication they brought to this proj­ect.

Rashid Hussein, “With the Land” / “‫مع االرض‬.” excerpt (lines 1-14). ‫( األعمال الشعرية‬Poetic Works). Library of all ­things, 2004, 505; “With the Land.” Translated from the original Arabic by Sinan Antoon, Jadaliyya, “Two Poems by Rashid Hussein.” Available from: http://­w ww​.­jadaliyya​.­com​/­pages​ /­index​/1­ 068​/t­ wo​-­poems​-­by​-­rashid​-h ­ ussein, Web. 29 Sep 2020; “‫ָָארץ‬ ֶ ‫ה‬‎ ‫עִם‬.” Unpublished Hebrew translation from the En­glish version by Aviv Ayash and Jenna Kershenbaum. Poster design by Devon Monaghan. Student-Curators Jenna Kershenbaum and Ouafaa Deleger assisted by Mohamed Benkirane, Brianna Casas, Ashley Fowler, Nisha Khan, Elena Lisci, and Reg Lee Sekkotin.

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붉은 가위 여자

Red Scissors W ­ oman

저만치 산부인과에서 걸어나오는 저 여자 옆에는 늙은 여자가 새 아기를 안고 있네

That ­woman who walks out of the gynecol­ogy clinic Next to her is an old w ­ oman holding a newborn

저 여자 두 다리는 마치 가위 같아 눈길을 쓱 쓱 자르며 잘도 걸어가네

That ­woman’s legs are like scissors She walks swiftswift cutting the snow path

그러나 뚱뚱한 먹구름처럼 물컹거리는 가윗날 어젯밤 저 여자 두 가윗날을 쳐들고 소리치며 무엇을 오렸을까 비린내 나는 노을이 쏟아져 내리는 두 다리 사이에서

But the swollen scissor blades are like fat dark clouds What did she cut screaming with her raised blades Blood scented dusk flooding out from between her legs

눈 폭풍 다녀간 아침 자꾸만 찢어지는 하늘 뒤뚱뒤뚱 걸어가는 저 여자를 따라가는 눈이 시리도록 밝은 섬광 눈부신 천국의 뚜껑이 열렸다 닫히네

The sky keeps tearing the morning a­ fter the snowstorm A blinding flash of light follows the waddlewaddling ­woman Heaven’s lid glimmers and opens then closes

하나님은 얼마나 무서웠을까 하나님이 키운 그 나무 그 열매 다 따먹은 저 여자가 두 다리 사이에서 붉은 몸뚱이 하나씩 잘라내게 되었을 때

How scared God must have been when the w ­ oman who ate all the fruit of the tree he’d planted was cutting out each red body from between her legs

아침마다 벌어지는 저 하늘 저 상처 저 구름의 뚱뚱한 줅은 두 다리 사이에서 빨간 머리 하나가 오려지고 있을 때

The sky, the wound that opens ­every morning when a red head is cut out between the fat red legs of the cloud

(저 피가 내 안에 사는지) (내가 저 피 속에 사는지)

(Does that blood live inside me?) (Do I live inside that blood?)

저만치 앞서 걸어가는 저 여자 뜨거운 몸으로 서늘한 그림자 찢으며 걸어가는 저 여자

That ­woman who walks ahead That ­woman who walks and rips with her scorching body her cold shadow

저 여자의 몸속 눈창고처럼 하얀 거울 속에는 끈적끈적하고 느리게 찰싹거리는 붉은 피의 파도 물고기를 가득 담은 아침바다처럼 새 아가들 가득 헤엄치네

New-­born infants swim inside that ­woman’s mirror inside her as white as a snow room the stickysticky slow breaking waves of blood like the morning sea filled with fish

Kim Hyesoon, “붉은 가위 여자.” Available from: http://­blog​.­daum​.­net​/­lespaul6​/2­ 29220. Web. 27 August 2020; “Red Scissors ­Woman.” Translated from the original Korean by Don Mee Choi, All the Garbage of the World, Unite! (University of Notre Dame, Indiana: Action Books, 2011), 8–9. Poster design by Nicole ­Sullivan. Student-Curator Ingrid Kuribayashi assisted by Sam Lee.

Article LIV. Kim Hyesoon (1955–) Article LV. Article LVI.

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杞人忧 幽燕烽火几时收， 闻道中洋战未休。 漆室空怀忧国恨， 难将巾帼易兜鍪。

Groundless Fear War flames in the North-­when ­will it all end? I hear the fighting at sea continues unabated. Like the ­woman of Qishi, I worry about my country in vain; It’s hard to trade kerchief and dress for a helmet.

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Article LVII. Qiu Jin (1875–1907) Article LVIII. Article LIX.

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Qiu Jin, “杞人忧.” Qiu Jin xian lie wen ji, Zhongguo guo min dang, Dang shi wei yuan hui, 1982, 13; “The Man of Qi Fears Heaven’s Collapse.” Translated from the original Chinese by Chia-­Lin Pao Tao with minor edits by Joan Judge and Hu Ying, Beyond Exemplar Tales: ­Women Biography in Chinese History, ed. Joan Judge and Hu Ying (University of California Press, 2011), 1. Poster design by Devon Monaghan. Student-Curators Ingrid Kuribayashi and Tianqi Ying.

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158

Satura X

Satire X

Qosdam praecipitat subiecta potentia magnae inuidiae, mergit longa atque insignis honorum pagina. Descendunt statuae restemque secuntur, ipsas deinde rotas bigarum inpacta securis caedit et inmeritis franguntur crura caballis. Iam strident ignes, iam follibus atque caminis ardet adoratum populo caput et crepat ingens Seianus, deinde ex facie toto orbe secunda fiunt urceoli, pelues, sartago, matellae. Pone domi laurus, duc in Capitolia magnum cretatumque bouem: Seianus ducitur unco spectandus, gaudent omnes. ‘Quae labra, quis illi uultus erat! Numquam, si quid mihi credis, amaui hunc hominem.’ ‘Sed quo cecidit sub crimine? Quisnam delator, quibus indiciis, quo teste probauit?’ ‘Nil horum; uerbosa et grandis epistula uenit a Capreis.’ ‘Bene habet, nil plus interrogo.’ Sed quid turba Remi? Sequitur fortunam, ut semper, et odit damnatos. Idem populus, si Nortia Tusco fauisset, si oppressa foret secura senectus principis, hac ipsa Seianum diceret hora Augustum. Iam pridem, ex quo suffragia nulli uendimus, effudit curas; nam qui dabat olim imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat, panem et circenses.

Some are destroyed by their power, downed by profound envy, Some are sunk deep by their long and illustrious list of honours. Noosed by a rope, their statues are dragged to the ground, even The wheels of their chariots are smashed, and broken to pieces With axes, while the legs of their innocent ­horses are shattered. Now the flames roar, the bellows hiss, and that head idolised By the ­people glows in the furnace, flames crackle around huge Sejanus; the face of a man who was number two in the world Is converted to jugs and basins, turned to pots and frying pans. Deck your ­houses with laurel, lead a ­great bull whitened with Chalk up to the Capitol: come see Sejanus dragged along by A hook, every­one’s celebrating! ‘Look at the lips, look at the Face on that! You can take it from me, he was never a man That I liked.’ ‘But what was the crime that brought him down? Who informed, what’s the evidence, where are the witnesses?’ ‘That’s all irrelevant; a lengthy and wordy letter arrived from Capri.’ ‘That’s fine, answer enough.’ But what of the Roman Mob? They follow Fortune, as always, and hate whoever she Condemns. If Nortia, as the Etruscans called her, had favoured Etruscan Sejanus; if the old Emperor had been surreptitiously Smothered; that same crowd in a moment would have hailed Their new Augustus. They shed their sense of responsibility Long ago, when they lost their votes, and the bribes; the mob That used to grant power, high office, the legions, every­thing, Curtails its desires, and reveals its anxiety for two ­things only, Bread and circuses.

Juvenal, Saturae X, excerpt (lines 56–81). Available from: Thelatinlibrary​.­com​/j­ uvenal​/­10​.­shtml. Web. 27 August 2020; Satire X, excerpt (lines 56–81), Translated from the original Latin by A. S. Kline, Copyright 2001. Available from: https://­w ww​.­poetryintranslation​.­com​ /­PITBR​/­Latin​/­JuvenalSatires10​.­php. Web. 27 August 2020. Poster design by Opinder Singh. Student-Curator Kimberly Peterman.

Article LX. Juvenal (ca. 55–ca. 138?)

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Rubayi ‫این کوزه چو من عاشق زاری بوده است‬ ‫در بند سر زلف نگاری بوده است‬ ‫این دسته که بر گردن او می‌بینی‬ ‫‌دستی‌ست که برگردن یاری بوده است‬

Rubayi This clay jug was once a poor lover, just like me, A lover, who was in love with his beloved; This ­handle that you see around the neck of the clay jug Was once the lover’s arm around the neck of his beloved.

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Article LXI. Omar Khayyam (1048–1131) Article LXII. Article LXIII.

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Omar Khayyam, Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (excerpt), ed. Edward Fitzgerald (Tehran: Eghbal Printing and Publishing Organ­ization), 16. Available from: https://­a rchive​.­org​ /­details​/­in​.­ernet​.d ­ li​.­2015​.­471757​.­ Web. 27 August 2020. Unpublished translation of this ruba’i (quatrain) from the original Persian by Maryam Borjian. Poster design by Devon Monaghan. Student-Curator Ouafaa Deleger assisted by Mina Khavandi.

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The Planners

Les Planificateurs

They plan. They build. All spaces are gridded, filled with permutations of possibilities. The buildings are in alignment with the roads  which meet at desired points linked by bridges all hang in the grace of mathe­matics. They build and ­will not stop. Even the sea draws back and the skies surrender.

Ils planifient. Ils construisent. Tous les espaces sont quadrillés, remplis de permutations de possibilités. Les bâtiments sont alignés sur les routes qui se rencontrent aux points désirés reliées par des ponts tous suspendus dans la grâce des mathématiques. Ils construisent et ne s’arrêteront pas. Même la mer recule et les cieux se rendent.

They erase the flaws, the blemishes of the past, knock off useless blocks with dental dexterity. All gaps are plugged with gleaming gold. The country wears perfect rows of shining teeth. Anaesthesia, amnesia, hypnosis. They have the means. They have it all so it ­will not hurt, so history is new again. The piling ­will not stop. The drilling goes right through the fossils of last ­century. But my heart would not bleed poetry. Not a single drop to stain the blueprint of our past’s tomorrow.

Ils effacent les défauts, les imperfections du passé, renversent des blocs inutiles avec une dextérité dentiste. Tous les trous sont bouchés par de l’or qui brille. de parfaites rangées de dents rutilantes. Anesthésie, amnésie, hypnose. Ils ont les moyens. Ils ont tout pour que ça ne fasse pas mal, pour que l’histoire soit nouvelle à nouveau. L’empilement ne s’arrêtera pas. Le forage passe à travers les fossiles du siècle dernier. Mais de mon cœur ne s’est écoulée nulle poésie. Pas une seule goutte pour tacher l’épure du lendemain de notre passé.

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Article LXIV. Boey Kim Cheng (1965–) Article LXV. Article LXVI.

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Boey Kim Cheng, “The Planners” / “Les Planificateurs.” Songs of Ourselves: Volume 1: Cambridge Assessment International Education Anthology of Poetry in En­glish (Cambridge International Examinations, 2018), 174, Unpublished French translation by Faith Hoatson. Poster design by Jia Hang Zhang. Student-Curator Ouafaa Deleger assisted by Tay Wee Siang.

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ఈ సంప్రదాయం మాకొద్దు.

We ­Don’t Want This Tradition…

సంప్రదాయం పిడుగు కాదు అయినా వేలవేల ప్రా ణుల్ని కాల్చేసింది

Tradition is not a thunderbolt… Yet it has incinerated thousand of lives.

సంప్రదాయం చీకటి కాదు అయినా అనేకమ�ైళ్ళలోతు అగాధాల్లోకి కూల్చేసింది

Tradition is not darkness Yet, it has thrown into immea­sur­able precipices

సంప్రదాయం నియంత కాదు అయినా చరితమొ ్ర త్తాన్ని కుర్చీల కథలుగా మార్చేసింది

Tradition is not a despot Yet, it has reduced history to armchair fiction

సంప్రదాయం జ�ైలు కాదు అయినా నిర్మల జలసంపదల్ని మరచెంబులో బంధించింది.

Tradition is not a prison… Yet, it has confined expanses of unsullied ­waters into the weir of threaded ewer

మోసీ మోసీ మూలిగే కలనాదమనుకునే సంప్రదాయ బో యీలకు మనసు కప్పుకుని బట్ట లిప్పుకోవడం అలవాటయింది.

And the exhausted palanquin-­bearers of tradition who confuse their deep sighs for cooing, are inured to donning their conscience, and doffing their clothes.

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Article LXVII. Nirmala Kondepudi (1958–) Article LXVIII. Article LXIX. Article LXX. Article LXXI. Article LXXII. Article LXXIII. Article LXXIV.

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Nirmala Kondepudi, “ఈ సంప్రదాయం మాకొద్దు.” / “We ­Don’t Want This Tradition.” Translated by N. S. Murty. Available from: https://­teluguanuvaadaalu​.­com​/2­ 012​/­08​ /­29​/­we​-­dont​-­want​-­this​-­tradition​-­kondepudi​-­nirmala​/­. Web. 27 Aug 2020. Poster design by Jia Hang Zhang. Student-Curator Pratyusha Reddy assisted by Triveni Kuchi and Preeti Reddy.

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Quatre ans

Four Years

Cela fera bientôt quatre ans on m’arracha à toi à mes camarades à mon peuple on me ligota bâillonna banda les yeux on interdit mes poèmes mon nom on m’exila dans un îlot de béton et de rouille on apposa un numéro sur le dos de mon absence on m’interdit les livres que j’aime les nouvelles la musique et pour te voir un quart d’heure par semaine à travers deux grilles séparées par un couloir ils étaient encore là buvant le sang de nos paroles un chronomètre à la place du cerveau

Four years soon now since I was snatched from you from my comrades from my ­people they tied me up gagged me blindfolded me they banned my poems my name they exiled me to an island of concrete and rust they placed a number on the back of my absence they deprived me of the books I love of news of ­music and let me see you fifteen minutes a week through two sets of bars separated by an alley and they ­were always ­there drinking the blood of our words with a timer instead of a brain

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Article LXXV. Abdellatif Laâbi (1942–) Article LXXVI.

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Abdellatif Laâbi, “Quatre ans” / “Four Years.” Translated from the original French by Donald Nicholson-­Smith, in In Praise of Defeat: Poems by Abdellatif Laâbi (New York: Archipelago Books, 2016), 52–53. Poster design by Jessica Weisser. Student-Curator Ouafaa Deleger.

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Kizuizini

In Prison

Nikiwa na njaa na matambara mwilini           nimehudumika kama hayawani Kupigwa na kutukanwa           kimya kama kupita kwa shetani. Nafasi ya kupumzika hakuna           ya kulala hakuna           ya kuwaza hakuna. Basi kwani hili kufanyika. Ni kosa gani lilotendeka Liloniletea adhabu hii isomalizika?

Hungry and in rags           treated like an animal Beaten and insulted           silenced as though Satan walked past no chance to rest           no chance to sleep           no chance to think What pos­si­ble ­mistakes could I have made to deserve this torment?

Ewe mwewe urukae juu mbinguni           wajua lililomo mwangu moyoni. Niambie: pale mipunga inapopepea            ikitema miale ya jua Mamaangu bado angali amesimama akinisubiri? Je nadhari yake hujitokeza usoni            ikielekea huku kizuizini? Mpenzi mama, nitarudi nyumbani Nitarudi kama hata ni kifoni Hata kama maiti yangu imekatikakatika            vipande elfu, elfu kumi            Nitarudi nyumbani Nikipenya kwenye ukuta huu nikipitia mwingine kama shetani, Nitarudi mpenzi mama ....                                       hata kama ni kifoni.

Falcon flying in the sky           you know what’s in my heart Tell me: where rice plants wave in the wind           glinting in the sun does my ­mother still stand and wait for me? Does she still turn her gaze ­towards me in prison? Dear ­mother, I ­will come home I ­will come back even in death Even if my corpse is cut            into thousands of pieces I ­will come home Passing through this wall ­going through another like a spirit I ­will come home, dear ­mother...                                                even in death.

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Article LXXVII. Alamin Mazrui (1948–) Article LXXVIII.

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Alamin Mazrui, “Kizuizini.” Poetry Translation Centre. Available from: https://­w ww​.­poetrytranslation​.­org​ /­poems​/­in​-­prison​-­k izuizini​/­original. Web. 27 August 2020. Courtesy of Alamin Mazrui; “In Prison.” Translated from the original Swahili by Katriina Ranne and The Poetry Translation Workshop, Poetry Translation Centre. Available from: https://­w ww​.­poetry​ translation​.­org​/­poems​/­in​-­prison​-­k izuizini. Web. 27 August 2020. Poster design by Sunhith Reddy. StudentCurator Gabriel Bamgbose.

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Ndikule ndawo ndikuyo

I Have Occupied the Space

Ndikule ndawo ndikuyo Njengomntu onelungelo elilodwa Umama wam wabanakho ukufumana imali-­mboleko, isiNgesi saba sisithuko sam, andizange ndivakale ‘njengomAfrika’ Ndandingaboni, ndingaqondi, ekuqaleni Indlela iindawo ezingaphakathi kum ezikubonisa ngayo okwenzeka ngaphandle Indlela esihleli ngayo kwiindawo ezahlukeneyo Indlela ekulindeleke ngayo ukuba Sidlale indima yabadlali esingengabo. Ndikule ndawo njengetsha-­ntliziyo Itsha-­ntliziyo lolwimi Itsha-­ntliziyo lezemfundo Elibona indlela ulwimi olubavalela ngayo abanye, oluphungula ngayo, olunika imiyalelo ngayo neluyigcina ngayo le meko Uthetha njani ngamathuba alinganayo, Ngelixa yonke le meko ingesiNgesi, Ngelixa ingavumiyo ukuphuhlisa nokusebenzisa iilwimi zaseAfrika ngaphezu kokubulisa, Ibe yinxalenye yamandla amakhulukazi asetyenziselwe ukugcina imeko efanayo. Ndikule ndawo Ngengomnye wabasebenzi Ndibonile yaye ndawuva umsinga wabantu abangazifuniyo iingqondi nabawuphikayo umsantsa omkhulu ovulekileyo Phakathi kwabasebenzi baseyunivesiti nabafundi Phakathi kweyunivesiti neentetha zazo Phakathi kweyunivesiti nabahlali ezifanele ukunikeza iinkonzo kubo Iikomiti ngeekomiti Ezimfamekileyo neengqondo ezivalekileyo Ezingadibaniyo. Ezinodlame. Njengenina, inina elilwela amalungelo amanina, itsha-­ntliziyo

I have occupied the space As a privileged being My ­mother could secure a loan, En­glish was my bitch, I ­didn’t sound ‘African’ I ­didn’t see, I ­didn’t understand, at first How the spaces inside mirror(ed) the outside How we inhabited dif­fer­ent worlds How we ­were expected to Play the roles in which we ­were cast and at the same time not be like who we ­were. I have occupied the space as an activist A language activist An educational activist With a lens that saw how language excludes, diminishes, ­orders and maintains How talk about equality of opportunity, when it was captioned in En­glish, when it refused to develop and use African languages beyond greetings, was simply part of the enormous energy used to keep ­things the same. I have occupied the space as a member of staff I have seen and felt wave ­after wave of anti-­ intellectualism and denialism has widened the gulf between university staff and university student between universities and their own words between universities and the communities they are meant to serve Committees on committees on committees Blind eyes and closed minds Disconnected.

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lolwimi, umfundisi-­ntsapho, njengomfundi, nanjengomntu Andisakwazi ukusuka ndibelapha kule ndawo Ukuma bhuxe, kule ndawo enodlame, enetyhefu, engazifuniyo iingqondi, kule ndawo yabacokovayo Kuza kundibulala Kwaye kuba indawo engaphakathi kum ibonakalisa okungaphandle yaye kuba ndikuzo zombini ezi ndawo Kufuneka ndibe yiyo yonke into ezingeyiyo.

Violent. As a ­woman, as a feminist, as a language activist, as an educator, as a student, as a person I am no longer able to simply occupy space Standing still in t­ hese violent, toxic, anti-­intellectual, elitist spaces ­will kill me And ­because the space inside mirrors the outside and I occupy both I need to be every­thing it ­isn’t

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Article LXXIX. Nadeema Musthan (1980–) Article LXXX.

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Nadeema Musthan, “Untitled” / “I Have Occupied the Space.” Translated from En­glish into Xhosa by Xolisa Guzula, Publica[c]tion (Johannesburg: Publica[c]tion Collective, 2017), 10. Poster design by Jocelyn Orante. Student-Curator Gabriel Bamgbose assisted by Thato Magano.

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Elección en Chimbarongo

Election in Chimbarongo

En Chimbarongo, en Chile, hace tiempo fui a una elección senatorial. Vi cómo eran elegidos los pedestales de la patria. A las once de la mañana llegaron del campo las carretas atiborradas de inquilinos. Era en invierno, mojados, sucios, hambrientos, descalzos, los siervos de Chimbarongo descienden de las carretas. Torvos, tostados, harapientos, son apiñados, conducidos con una boleta en la mano, vigilados y apretujados vuelven a cobrar la paga, y otra vez hacia las carretas enfilados como caballos los han conducido. Más tarde les han tirado carne y vino hasta dejarlos bestialmente envilecidos y olvidados.

In Chimbarongo, Chile, long ago I went to a senatorial election. I saw how the pillars of society ­were elected. At eleven in the morning ox carts crammed with sharecroppers arrived from the country. It was winter. Wet, dirty, hungry, barefoot, the serfs from Chimbarongo climb down from the ox carts. Grim, sunburnt, tattered, ­they’re packed together, led ballots in hand, marshaled in a bunch to draw their pay and, herded like ­horses, ­they’re led back to the ox carts again. Then ­they’re thrown meat and wine ­until ­they’re left brutally debauched and forgotten.

Escuché más tarde el discurso, del senador así elegido: “Nosotros, patriotas cristianos, nosotros, defensores del orden, nosotros, hijos del espíritu”. Y estremecía su barriga su voz de vaca aguardentosa que parecía tropezar como una trompa de mamuth en las bóve­das tenebrosas de la silbante prehistoria.

L­ ater I heard the speech of the senator thus elected: “We, Christian patriots, we, defenders of the order, we, ­children of the spirit.” And his belly trembled, his voice of a besotted cow that seemed to sway like a mammoth’s trunk in the sinister caverns of howling prehistory.

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Article LXXXI. Pablo Neruda (1904–1973) Article LXXXII.

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Pablo Neruda, “Elección en Chimbarongo.” from Canto General © Pablo Neruda 1950, and Fundación Pablo Neruda (Pehuén Editores, 2005), 201–202; “Election in Chimbarongo.” Translated from the original Spanish by Jack Schmitt, Canto General (University of California Press, 1991), 164–165. Poster design by Sunhith Reddy. StudentCurator Francisco Rodriguez assisted by Hemani Patel.

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176

Alturas de Macchu Picchu, XII

The Heights of Macchu Picchu, XII

Sube a nacer conmigo, hermano.

Arise to birth with me, my b ­ rother.

Dame la mano desde la profunda zona de tu dolor diseminado.

Give me your hand out of the depths sown by your sorrow.

(…)

(...)

Mírame desde el fondo de la tierra, labrador, tejedor, pastor callado: domador de guanacos tutelares: albañil del andamio desafiado: aguador de las lágrimas andinas: joyero de los dedos machacados: agricultor temblando en la semilla: alfarero en tu greda derramado: traed a la copa de esta nueva vida vuestros viejos dolores enterrados.

Look at me from the depths of earth, tiller of fields, weaver, reticent shepherd, groom of totemic guanacos, mason high on your treacherous scaffolding, iceman of Andean tears, jeweler with crushed fin­gers, farmer anxious among his seedlings, potter wasted among his clays— bring to the cup of this new life your ancient buried sorrows.

(...)

(...)

Yo vengo a hablar por vuestra boca muerta.

I come to speak for your dead mouths.

A través de la tierra juntad todos los silenciosos labios derramados y desde el fondo habladme toda esta larga noche, como si yo estuviera con vosotros anclado.

Throughout the earth let dead lips congregate, out of the depths spin this long night to me as if I rode at anchor ­here with you.

Contadme todo, cadena a cadena, eslabón a eslabón, y paso a paso, afilad los cuchillos que guardasteis, ponedlos en mi pecho y en mi mano, como un río de rayos amarillos, como un río de tigres enterrados, y dejadme llorar, horas, días, años, edades ciegas, siglos estelares.

And tell me every­thing, tell chain by chain, and link by link, and step by step; sharpen the knives you kept hidden away, thrust them into my breast, into my hands, like a torrent of sunbursts, an Amazon of buried jaguars, and leave me cry: hours, days and years, blind ages, stellar centuries.

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Dadme el silencio, el agua, la esperanza.

And give me silence, give me w ­ ater, hope.

Dadme la lucha, el hierro, los volcanes.

Give me the strug­gle, the iron, the volcanoes.

Apegadme los cuerpos como imanes.

Let bodies cling like magnets to my body.

Acudid a mis venas y a mi boca.

Come quickly to my veins and to my mouth.

Hablad por mis palabras y mi sangre.

Speak through my speech, and through my blood.

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

Article LXXXIII. Pablo Neruda (1904–1973) Article LXXXIV.

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Pablo Neruda, “Alturas de Macchu Picchu” from Canto General © Pablo Neruda 1950, and Fundación Pablo Neruda; Pablo Neruda/ Nathaniel Tarn, From the Heights of Macchu Picchu, Translated from the original Spanish by Nathaniel Tarn, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1996, 66–71. Published by Vintage, Reprinted by permission of The Random House Group ­Limited © 1965. Poster design by Rawan Haroun. Student-Curator Ethel M. Osorio assisted by Carlos Narvaez.

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Aláṣejù

One Who Acts in Excess

Ọló run ̣ Kòkò-­yí-­bìrí ’Un náà níí f’ojú aláṣejù B’omi gbígbóná!

(Excerpt: lines 33–74)

Ẹni t’ó bá wu Kòkò-­yí-­bìrí, Òun níí f’ọré ̣ Aláṣejù lé ló wo ̣ ́ .̣ A ní k’é ṛ ú k’ó na ẹrú, K‘ó mọ ̣ k’ó n’ọmọ; Kí tálákà k’ó na tálákà, K’ólówó k’ó n’olówó, K‘ó ba ̣ k’ó na’ra wọn. Ṣé Kòkòyí náà ló yan, Ọba Gè ẹ ́ ṣ ì – Pé k’ó máa f’ojú àwọn Alásẹjù b’omi gbígbóná? Kí wọn bà jé ̣ k’áyé mí! Ọba Jámánì – Òun l’ò yájú, òun l’ò yájú! ̣ ̣ T’ó ní òun ó ṣe bí Ọba Nàpó, Nàgìrì Napoleon Ọba nà ’kòkò, nà ’ṣaasùn; Ọba n’awo-­n’è g̣ bè ṛ ì, Ọba n’è ṣ̣ ó -­̣ n’è ṣ̣ ó ,̣ Ọba n’olóógun-­n’olóógun, Odindi ọdún méfà sáú, ’Un l’ó gbé l’é w ̣ ò n. ̣ Ọba Gè ẹ ́ ṣ ì ní Sé ṇ -­Té ḷ ì St. Helina Sẹn-­Té ḷ ì èwo nù-un?

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Sẹn-­Té ḷ ì tí ń bẹ L’órí omi òkun réré-­ré! Ohun t’ójú Nàpó rí, Kò le rò ó tán láéláé. Ojú ’è ̣ rí dúdú, ojú ’è ̣ rí pupa,

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Ojú ‘è ̣ r’áyìnrín, Ojú ‘è ̣ rí ràkò ràko ̣ ̀ :̣ Nàpó l’ó m’é ṣ è ̣ re’bè ,̣

The-­incontrollable-­God, Is the only one who can control – ­Those who act in excess, What­ever pleases the incontrollable-­God – Is what He does With the one-­who-­acts-­in-­excess. He may use one slave to discipline another, He may use one freeborn to discipline another; He may use one poor person to discipline another, He may use one wealthy person to discipline another, He may use one king to discipline another. It is this incontrollable-­God, Who chose the British king – And empowered him To discipline ­those who act in excess. So that peace would reign globally! The German ruler – Acted in excess, and did not re­spect constituted authority. He wanted to be like King Napoleon, The king who brutalized old and young, He brutalized the wealthy and the poor, He brutalized military leaders, He brutalized warriors and soldiers, He spent six full years In prison. The British king at St Helena Which St Helena? The St Helena Across the ocean! Napoleon may not be able to recount, All that he went through. He suffered ­until his eyes turned red, and turned black,

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’Un l’ó m’órí re’lé, Ọba Gè ẹ ́ ṣ ì, Ọba tíí f’ọba jẹ. Ọba Gè ẹ ́ ṣ ì, Òun náà níí f’ojú Aláṣejù b’omi gbígbóná. Ẹ̀ fúùfù gb’ólógì lọ T’oníyè f̣ un d’ègbé yán-­án-­yán-­án!

His eyes turned glossy light-­blue, And humiliated, Napoleon went ­there (the prison) as a power­f ul and strong man, But was thoroughly humiliated and cut down to size. The British king, king who installs other kings. This same British king, Subdued all ­those who acted in excess. If noble figures (like Napoleon) are being humiliated, The generality of the ­people in the society should take extra caution!

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Article LXXXV. Denrele Adetimikan Ọbasa (1879–1945)

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Denrele Adetimikan Ọbasa, “Aláṣejù” / “One Who Acts in Excess,” excerpt, lines 33–74, Originally translated from Yoruba by Akintunde Akinyẹmi, “D. A. Ọbasa (1879–1945): a Yoruba poet, culture activist and local intellectual in colonial Nigeria.” Africa 87.1 (2017), supplemental materials, Cambridge University Press, 16–17. Available from: https://­doi​.­org​/­10​.­1017​/­S00019720​ 16000668. Web. 27 August 2020. Poster design by Ryan Farrell. Student-Curator Gabriel Bamgbose. Image credit: Francesco Antommarchi, Death Mask of Napoleon, Cast 1833, Art Institute of Chicago, Estate of E. Blake Blair.

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Metamorphoseon Liber Decimvs

Metamorphoses

Svnt tamen obscenae Venerem Propoetides avsae esse negare deam. Pro qvo sva nvminis ira corpora cvm fama primae vvlgasse fervntvr, vtqve pvdor cessit, sangvisqve indvrvit oris, in rigidvm parvo silicem discrimine versae. Qvas qvia Pygmalion aevvm per crimen agentis viderat, offensvs vitiis, qvae plvrima menti femineae natvra dedit, sine conivge caelebs vivebat thalamiqve div consorte carebat. Interea nivevm mira feliciter arte scvlpsit ebvr formamqve dedit, qva femina nasci nvlla potest, operisqve svi concepit amorem. Virginis est verae facies, qvam vivere credas, et, si non obstet reverentia, velle moveri: ars adeo latet arte sva. Miratvr et havrit pectore Pygmalion simvlati corporis ignes. Saepe manvs operi temptantes admovet, an sit corpvs an illvd ebvr, nec adhvc ebvr esse fatetvr. … Temptatvm mollescit ebvr positoqve rigore svbsidit digitis ceditqve, vt Hymettia sole cera remollescit tractataqve pollice mvltas flectitvr in facies ipsoqve fit vtilis vsv. Dvm stvpet et dvbie gavdet falliqve veretvr, rvrsvs amans rvrsvsqve manv sva vota retractat. Corpvs erat! Salivnt temptatae pollice venae. Tvm vero Paphivs plenissima concipit heros verba, qvibvs Veneri grates agat, oraqve tandem ore svo non falsa premit, dataqve oscvla virgo sensit et ervbvit timidvmqve ad lvmina lvmen attollens pariter cvm caelo vidit amantem.

The immoral Propoetides dared to deny that Venus was the goddess. For this, ­because of her divine anger, they are said to have been the first to prostitute their bodies and their reputations in public, and, losing all sense of shame, they lost the power to blush, as the blood hardened in their cheeks, and only a small change turned them into hard flints. Pygmalion had seen them, spending their lives in wickedness, and, offended by the failings that nature gave the female heart, he lived as a bachelor, without a wife or partner for his bed. But, with wonderful skill, he carved a figure, brilliantly, out of snow-­white ivory, no mortal ­woman, and fell in love with his own creation. The features are ­those of a real girl, who, you might think, lived, and wished to move, if modesty did not forbid it. Indeed, art hides his art. He marvels: and passion, for this bodily image, consumes his heart. Often, he runs his hands over the work, tempted as to w ­ hether it is flesh or ivory, not admitting it to be ivory. … The ivory yielded to his touch, and lost its hardness, altering ­under his fin­gers, as the bees’ wax of Hymettus softens in the sun, and is moulded, u ­ nder the thumb, into many forms, made usable by use. The lover is stupefied, and joyful, but uncertain, and afraid he is wrong, reaffirms the fulfilment of his wishes, with his hand, again, and again. It was flesh! The pulse throbbed u ­ nder his thumb. Then the hero of Paphos, was indeed overfull of words with which to thank Venus, and still pressed his mouth against a mouth that was not merely a likeness. The girl felt the kisses he gave, blushed, and, raising her bashful eyes to the light, saw both her lover and the sky.

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Article LXXXVI. Ovid (43 bce–17/18 ce)

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Ovid, Metamorphoseon Libri XV, Book X (excerpt, lines 238–255, 283–294). Available from: http://­w ww​ .­thelatinlibrary​.­com​/o ­ vid​/­ovid​.­met10​.­shtml. Web. 27 August 2020; Metamorphoses, Book X, Translated from the original Latin by A. S. Kline, Copyright 2000. Available from http://­ovid​.­lib​.­virginia​.­edu​ /­trans​/­Metamorph10​.­htm. Web. 27 August 2020. Poster design by Opinder Singh with design alterations by Devon Monaghan. Student-Curator Kimberly Peterman assisted by Shivani Kommireddi. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File:Falconet -­Pygmalion & Galatee (1763)-­black bg.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, https://­commons​.­wikimedia​.­org​/­w​/­index​.­php​?­title​ =­File:Falconet​_-­​ ­​ _­Pygmalion​_­% 26_Galatee_(1763)-­black_bg.jpg&oldid=597123165 (accessed May 31, 2022).

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Капричио за Гойя

Capriccio for Goya

Няма го вече стария ужас зверски цялостен и зверски безкраен, без гримаси и без остроумия.

The old terror brutally ­whole, brutally endless without posturing and wit, is gone.

Ужасът си променя характера тупа ме свойски по рамото, снизходително ме ухажва и кокетничи с представата за себе си: “Ние с тебе сме еднакво силни, ти си само малко по-­красив...” И ми се усмихва. Ах, особено усмивката го прави гаден, извратен го прави и налудничав. И ме дави непозната гадост. Сякаш ме целуват похотливо бебета с мустаци и бради.

The terror is dif­fer­ent now intimate, it pats me on the shoulder condescending, it courts me and flirts with its own image, “We are equally strong, you and I, you are smarter maybe…” And it smiles at me. Ah, it’s the smile that makes it so revolting, makes it perverted and mad. I feel sick with a revulsion as never before. As if babies with beards and mustaches ­were kissing me lasciviously.

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Article LXXXVII. Konstantin Pavlov (1933–2008)

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Konstantin Pavlov, “Капричио за Гойя.” Стари неща (Old ­Things), София: Български Писател, 1983, 39; “Capriccio for Goya.” Translated from the original Bulgarian by Ludmilla G. Popova-­Wightman, Cry of a Former Dog (Prince­ton: Ivy Press, 2000), 38. Poster design by Jessica Weisser. Prepared by Kris Vassilev. StudentCurator Valentina Melikhova.

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Ontem à tarde um homem das cidades Ontem à tarde um homem das cidades Falava à porta da estalagem. Falava comigo também. Falava da justiça e da luta para haver justiça E dos operários que sofrem, E do trabalho constante, e dos que têm fome, E dos ricos, que só têm costas para isso. E, olhando para mim, viu-me lágrimas nos olhos E sorriu com agrado, julgando que eu sentia O ódio que ele sentia, e a compaixão Que ele dizia que sentia.

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(Mas eu mal o estava ouvindo. Que me importam a mim os homens E o que sofrem ou supõem que sofrem? Sejam como eu —­não sofrerão. Todo o mal do mundo vem de nos importarmos uns com os outros, Quer para fazer bem, quer para fazer mal. A nossa alma e o céu e a terra bastam-­nos. Querer mais é perder isto, e ser infeliz).

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Yesterday After­noon a City Man Yesterday after­noon a city man Was talking at the door of the inn. He was talking to me too. He spoke of justice and the strug­gle to achieve justice And of the suffering workers And of ceaseless toil and hungry ­people And of the rich, who just turn their backs to it all. And, looking at me, he saw tears in my eyes And smiled with satisfaction, thinking I felt The hatred he did, and the compassion He said he felt. (But I was scarcely listening. What does mankind ­matter to me And what they suffer or think they suffer? Let them be like me —­they ­won’t suffer. All the world’s trou­bles come from poking our noses in one another’s business, ­Whether to do good or to do bad. Our soul, the sky, the earth, are all we need. To want more is to lose it all and be unhappy.)

Eu no que estava pensando Quando o amigo de gente falava (E isso me comoveu até às lágrimas), Era em como o murmúrio longínquo dos chocalhos A esse entardecer Não parecia os sinos duma capela pequenina A que fossem à missa as flores e os regatos E as almas ­simples como a minha.

What I was thinking about While the friend of mankind was talking (And that’s what moved me to tears) Was how the distant tinkle of cowbells As night came on Was nothing at all like the sound of bells in a small chapel Where flowers and brooks would go to Mass Along with s­ imple souls like mine.

(Louvado seja Deus que não sou bom, E tenho o egoísmo natu­ral das flores E dos rios que seguem o seu caminho Preocupados sem o saber Só com o florir e ir correndo. É essa a única missão no Mundo,

(Thank God I’m not good, And have the natu­ral egoism of flowers And of rivers following their course Intent, without knowing it, Only on flowering and flowing. We’ve only one mission in the World:

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Essa —­existir claramente, E saber fazê-lo sem pensar nisso).

That’s to exist clearly And know how to, without thinking about it.)

E o homem calara-se, olhando o poente. Mas que tem com o poente quem odeia e ama?

And the man had fallen s­ ilent, watching the sunset. But what’s a man who hates and loves got to do with the sunset?

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Article LXXXVIII. Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935)

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Fernando Pessoa, [Alberto Caeiro], “XXXII. Ontem à tarde um homem das cidades” / “XXXII. Yesterday After­noon a City Man.” Translated from the original Portuguese by Edwin Honig and Susan M. Brown, The Keeper of Sheep (O Guardador de Rebanhos) (The Sheep Meadow Press, 1997), 80–83. Poster design by Melissa Perdomo. Student-Curator Francisco Rodriguez assisted by Brandon Gomes.

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如梦令· 忆书

Tune: “A Dream Song” A Reminiscence It was a day at Brookside Pavilion That I often fondly remember, When, flushed with wine, We could hardly tear ourselves away From the beautiful view at sunset. Returning late by boat When we’d enjoyed our fill, We got lost and strayed To where the clustered lotuses ­Were at their thickest. Pushing and thrashing, Pushing and thrashing as best we could, We scared into flight A shoreful of dozing egrets and gulls.

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Article LXXXIX. Li Qingzhao (1084–1150)

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Li Qingzhao, “如梦令 · 忆书” / “Tune: ‘A Dream Song’: A Reminiscence.” Translated from the original Chinese by Jiaosheng Wang, “The Complete Ci-­poems of Li Qingzhao: A New En­glish Translation.” Sino-­Platonic Papers (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1989), 48–49. Available from: http://­sino​-­platonic​.­org​/­complete​/­spp013​_ ­li​ _­qingzhao​.­pdf. Web. 27 August 2020. Poster design by Nicole ­Sullivan. Student-Curator Tianqi Ying.

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Razglednicák

Razglednicas

Razglednica Bulgáriából vastag, vad ágyuszó gurul, a hegygerincre dobban, majd tétováz s lehull; torlódik ember, állat, szekér és gondolat, az út nyerítve hőköl, sörényes ég szalad. Te állandó vagy bennem e mozgó zűrzavarban, tudatom mélyén fénylesz örökre mozdulatlan s némán, akár az angyal, ha pusztulást csodál, vagy korhadt fának odván temetkező bogár.

Razglednica Rolling from Bulgaria the brutal cannonade slams at the ranges, to hesitate and fade; men and beasts and carts and thoughts are jammed into one, neighing the road rears up, the maned sky ­will run. And ­you’re the only constant in the changing and the mess: you shine on eternal beneath my consciousness; mute as an angel wondering at the catastrophe, or the beetle of burial from his hole in a dead tree.

1944. augusztus 30. A hegyek közt Razglednica 2 Kilenc kilométerre innen égnek a kazlak és a házak, s a rétek szélein megülve némán riadt pórok pipáznak. Itt még vizet fodroz a tóra lépő apró pásztorleány s felhőt iszik a vízre ráhajolva a fodros birkanyáj. Cservenka, 1944. október 6. Razglednica 3 Az ökrök száján véres nyál csorog, az emberek mind véreset vizelnek, a század bűzös, vad csomókban áll. Fölöttünk fú a förtelmes halál. Mohács, 1944. október 24. Razglednica 4 Mellézuhantam, átfordult a teste s feszes volt már, mint húr, ha pattan. Tarkólövés. -­Így végzed hát te is, súgtam magamnak, -­csak feküdj nyugodtan. Halált virágzik most a türelem. Der springt noch auf, -­hangzott fölöttem. Sárral kevert vér száradt fülemen. Szentkirályszabadja, 1944. október 31.

In the mountains. August 30, 1944 Razglednica 2 At nine kilo­meters: the pall of burning hayrick, homestead, farm. At the field’s edge: the peasants, ­silent, smoking pipes against the fear of harm. ­Here: a lake ruffled only by the step of a tiny shepherdess, where a white cloud is what the ruffled sheep drink in their lowliness.

Cservenka. October 6, 1944

Razglednica 3 The oxen drool saliva mixed with blood. Each one of us is urinating blood. The squad stands about in knots, stinking, mad. Death, hideous, is blowing overhead.

Mohács. October 24, 1944

Razglednica 4 I fell beside him and his corpse turned over, tight already as a snapping string. Shot in the neck. “And that’s how you’ll end too,” I whispered to myself; “lie still; no moving. Now patience flowers in death.” Then I could hear “Der springt noch auf,” above, and very near. Blood mixed with mud was drying on my ear.

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Szentkirályszabadja. October 31, 1944

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Miklós Radnóti, Összegyűjtött versek. Szöveggondozás, utószó, jegyzetek Ferencz Győző (Budapest: Magvető Könyvkiadó, 2016), 247–249; “Razglednicas.” Translated from the original Hungarian by Zsuzsanna Ozsváth and Frederick Turner. Foamy Sky: The Major Poems of Miklós Radnóti (Prince­ton University Press, 1992), 117–118. Poster design by Jia Hang Zhang. Student-Curator Veronika Szabó.

Article XC. Miklós Radnóti (1909–1944) Article XCI.

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স্বাধীনতা তু মি

Oh Freedom

স্বাধীনতা তু মি রবিঠাকুরের অজর কবিতা, অবিনাশী গান। স্বাধীনতা তু মি কাজী নজরুল ঝাঁকড়া চুলের বাবরি দ�োলান�ো মহান পুরুষ, সৃষ্টিসুখের উল্লাসে কাঁপাস্বাধীনতা তু মি শহীদ মিনারে অমর একুশে ফেয়ারির উজ্জ্বল সভা স্বাধীনতা তু মি পতাকা-­শ�োভিত শ্লোগান-­মুখর ঝাঁঝাল�ো মিছিল। স্বাধীনতা তু মি ফসলের মাঠে কৃষকের হাসি। স্বাধীনতা তু মি র�োদেলা দুপুরে মধ্যপুকুরে গ্রাম্য মেয়ের অবাধ সাঁতার। স্বাধীনতা তু মি মজুর যুবার র�োদে ঝলসিত দক্ষ বা�র গ্রন্থিল পেশী। স্বাধীনতা তু মি অন্ধকারের খাঁ খাঁ সীমান্তে মুক্তিসেনার চ�োখের ঝিলিক। স্বাধীনতা তু মি বটের ছায়ায় তরুণ মেধাবী শিক্ষার্থীর শানিত কথার ঝলসানি-­লাগা সতেজ ভাষণ। স্বাধীনতা তু মি চা-­খানায় আর মাঠে-­ময়দানে ঝ�োড়ো সংলাপ। স্বাধীনতা তু মি কালব�োশেখীর দিগন্তজ�োড়া মত্ত ঝাপটা। স্বাধীনতা তু মি শ্রাবণে অকূল মেঘনার বুক স্বাধীনতা তু মি পিতার ক�োমল জায়নামাজের উদার জমিন। স্বাধীনতা তু মি উঠানে ছড়ান�ো মায়ের শুভ্র শাড়ির কাঁপন। স্বাধীনতা তু মি ব�োনের হাতের নম্র পাতায় মেহেদীর রঙ। স্বাধীনতা তু মি বুর হাতে তারার মতন জ্বলজ্বলে এক রাঙা প�োস্টার। স্বাধীনতা তু মি গৃহিণীর ঘন খ�োলা কাল�ো চুল, হাওয়ায় হাওয়ায় বুন�ো উদ্দাম। স্বাধীনতা তু মি খ�োকার গায়ের রঙিন ক�োর্তা, খুকীর অমন তু লতু লে গালে র�ৌদ্রের খেলা। স্বাধীনতা তু মি

Freedom, ­you’re The classic verses of Tagore, timeless lyr­ics. Freedom, ­you’re Kazi Nazrul a ­great man with thick mane, Freedom, ­you’re The dazzling congregation at the Shahid Minar Freedom, ­you’re The pro­cession of slogans and colours Freedom, ­you’re The smile on the farmer’s face in the land. Freedom, ­you’re The amusing swim of the pastoral girl in the pond during mid-­day. Freedom, ­you’re The wiry muscles on an expert labourer’s sun-­tanned arms. Freedom, ­you’re The twinkle in a freedom fighter’s eyes at the murky and isolated borders. Freedom, ­you’re The immaculate speech of a laudable learner beneath the silhouette of a banyan tree. Freedom, ­you’re The fiery conversation at the tea-­shops and public gatherings. Freedom, ­you’re The thriving clout of the northwester at the horizon. Freedom, ­you’re The heart of the Meghna during rain. Freedom, ­you’re The furry contact of the f­ ather’s prayer mat. Freedom, ­you’re The waves of the ­mother’s sari long-­drawn-­out in the patio. Freedom, ­you’re The tinge of henna on the ­sister’s malleable hand. Freedom, ­you’re A dazzling placard as the stars at the pal’s hand. Freedom, ­you’re The homemaker’s thick black locks turning untamed in the wind. Freedom, ­you’re The vibrant attire on a juvenile lad,

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বাগানের ঘর, ক�োকিলের গান, বয়েসী বটের ঝিলিমিলি পাতা, যেমন ইচ্ছে লেখার আমার কবিতার খাতা।

The playing of the rays on a lass’ sinuous cheeks. Freedom, ­you’re The abode amid a garden, the song at the cuckoo’s throat, The peeping leaves of an antiquated banyan tree, My notebook of poetry, for penning verses as I feel like.

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Article XCII. Shamsur Rahman (1929–2006)

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Shamsur Rahman, “স্বাধীনতা তু মি” / “Shadhinota Tumi.” কবিতার খাতা (Poetry Book). Available from: priyokobita​ .­wordpress​.c­ om​/­tag​/­shadhinota​-­t umi​/­, Web, 19 Sep 2020; “Oh Freedom.” Translated from the original Bangla by Md. Ziaul Haque, a poet, writer, and assistant professor of En­glish at the University of Creative Technology, Chittagong, Bangladesh, Bangalore Review, Vol. VIII, Issue No. 6, Nov 2020. Available from: http://­ bangalorereview​.­com​/­2016​/­11​/­oh​-­f reedom/ Web. 14 Dec 2020. Poster design by Melissa Perdomo. Student-Curator Pratyusha Reddy assisted by Mohana Biswas.

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Das Lied des Bettlers

The Beggar’s Song

Ich gehe immer von Tor zu Tor, verregnet und verbrannt; auf einmal leg ich mein rechtes Ohr in meine rechte Hand. Dann kommt mir meine Stimme vor als hätt ich sie nie gekannt.

Always I go from gate to gate, rained on, scorched by the sun; suddenly I press my right ear into my right hand. And now my own voice comes to me as if I’d never known it.

Dann weiβ ich nicht sicher wer da schreit, ich oder irgendwer. Ich schreie um eine Kleinigkeit. Die Dichter schrein um mehr.

So that I’m not certain who’s crying out, I or someone ­else. I cry for a pittance. The poets cry for more.

Und endlich mach ich noch mein Gesicht mit beiden Augen zu; wie’s dann in der Hand liegt mit seinem Gewicht sieht es fast aus wie Ruh. Damit sie nicht meinen ich hätte nicht, wohin ich mein Haupt tu.

At last I close my face by closing both my eyes; lying so heavy in my hand it almost looks like rest. So they ­won’t think I ­hadn’t a place to lay my head.

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Article XCIII. Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) Article XCIV.

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Rainer Maria Rilke, “Das Lied des Bettlers.” Das Buch der Bilder (Im Insel-­Verlag, 1920), 134; “The Beggar’s Song.” Translated from the original German by Galway Kinnell and Hannah Liebmann, The Essential Rilke (HarperCollins, 2000), 7–8. Translation copyright © 1999 by Galway Kinnell and Hannah Liebmann. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Poster design by Devon Monaghan. Student-Curator Jessica Fitzner assisted by Grace Schmitt.

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‫عالجوا عبوديّتكم بالصبر‬ ‫والصالة‬ ‫هكذا قيل لي‬ ‫عالجوا قهركم وذاكرتكم بالنوم‬ ‫أ ّما أنا‬ ‫فقد جلست تحت أشجار الشوك العالية‬ ‫حتّى أزهرت‬

Cure Your Slavery with Patience Cure your slavery with patience and prayers or so I was told Cure your oppression and memory with sleep as for me I sat ­under the high, thorny trees ­until they flowered

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Article XCV. Saniya Salih (1939–1995) Article XCVI.

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Saniya Salih, “‫ ”عالجوا عبوديّتكم بالصبر‬/ “Cure Your Slavery with Patience.” Translated from the original Arabic by Marilyn Hacker, ArabLit Quarterly, June 30, 2017. Available from: https://­a rablit​.­org​/­2017​/­06​/­30​/­f riday​-­finds​-­cure​ -­your​-­slavery​-­with​-­patience​/­. Web. 27 August 2020. Poster design by Ryan Farrell. Student-Curator Naima Ouhamou assisted by Jannah Bahgat.

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Sappho —­Fragment 94

Sappho’s Confession (Fragment 94)

τεθνάκην δ’ ἀδόλως θέλω· ἀ με ψισδομένα κατελι ́μπανεν

“I simply wish to die.”  Weeping she left me  And said this too:  “We’ve suffered terribly.  Sappho, I leave you against my ­will.”  I answered, “Go happily  And remember me,  You know how we cared for you;  If not, let me remind you . . . ​the lovely times we shared.  Many crowns of violets,  Roses and crocuses  . . . ​together you set before me,  And many scented wreaths  Made from blossoms  Around your soft throat . . . . . . ​with pure, sweet oil  . . . ​you anointed me,  And on a soft, gentle bed . . . You quenched your desire . . . . . . ​no holy site . . . We left uncovered,  No grove . . . ​dance  . . . ​sound

πόλλα καὶ τόδ’ ἔειπέ [μοι· ‘ὤιμ’ ὠς δεῖνα πεπ[όνθ]αμεν· Ψάπφ’, ἦ μάν σ’ ἀέκοισ’ ἀπυλιμπάνω.’ τὰν δ’ ἔγω τάδ’ ἀμειβόμαν· ‘χαι ́ροισ’ ἔρχεο κἄμεθεν μέμναισ’, οἶσθα γὰρ ὤς σε πεδήπομεν· αἰ δὲ μή, ἀλλά σ’ ἔγω θέλω ὄμναισαι [. . . .] . [. . .] . . αι . . [  ] καὶ κάλ’ ἐπάσχομεν· πό[λλοις γὰρ στεφάν]οις ἴων καὶ βρ[όδων κρο]κι ́ων τ’ ὔμοι κα . . [   ] πὰρ ἔμοι περεθήκαο, καὶ πό[λλαις ὐπα]θύμιδας πλέκ[ταις ἀμφ’ ἀ]πάλᾳ δέρᾳ ἀνθέων ἔ[βαλες] πεποημέναις, καὶ πολλῳ [  ]. μύρῳ βρενθει ́ῳ . [  ]ρυ[. .]ν ἐξαλει ́ψαο κα[ὶ βασ]ιληι ́ῳ, καὶ στρώμν[αν ἐ]πὶ μολθάκαν ἀπάλαν πα . [  ] . . . ​ων ἐξίης πόθο[ν  ] . νίδων

Article XCVII. Sappho (630–580 bce) Article XCVIII.

κωὔτε τις [  οὔ]τε τι ἶρον οὐδ’υ[  ] ἔπλετ’ ὄππ[οθεν ἄμ]μες ἀπέσκομεν

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οὐκ ἄλσος . [  χ]όρος ]ψοφος ]...οιδιαι

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Sappho, “Fragment 94,” from David A Campbell’s Greek Lyric Poetry: a Se­lection of Early Greek Lyric, Elegiac and Iambic Poetry (Bristol Classical Press, 1994), 47–49; “Fragment 94.” Translated from the original Ancient Greek by Diane J. Rayor, Homo­sexuality in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook of Basic Documents in Translation, ed. Thomas K. Hubbard (The University of California Press, 2003), 1-16. Available from: https://­w ww​.­laits​.­utexas​.­edu​/­a ncienthomosexuality​ /­readindex​.­php​?­view​=­5. Web. 27 August 2020. Poster design by Devon Monaghan. Student-Curator Kimberly Peterman assisted by Emily Ezzo.

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Moskva

Moscow

Menuet se již dávno netančí a harfa nemá dávno komu hrát. Vitriny ve starém paláci jsou náhrobkem mrtvých.

The minuet has long ceased to be danced, the harp has long lost its audience. The display cases in the old palace are tombstones of the dead.

Byla tu bojiště, zkrvavená zeď Kremlu ještě dnes cení zuby. Buďte nám svědky, kteří mrtvi jste, pohřbeni do hedvábí.

­ here w T ­ ere battlefields ­here, the Kremlin’s bloodstained wall still bares its teeth. Bear witness for us, you who are dead, buried in silks.

Poháry bez vína, prapory skloněné nad touto minulostí, meč, který vzpomíná, komu vypadl z pěsti.

Cups without wine, flags dipped to the past, a sword that recalls from whose hand it dropped.

Shnilé prsteny, plesnivý diadem, colier, která ještě dnes voní. Rozpadlé roby mrtvých careven s maskou bez očí, pohledem smrti a zatracení.

Rotten rings, a mildewy diadem, a corsage that’s fragrant still, the disintegrating robes of dead tsarinas and eyeless masks, the look of death and damnation.

Znak moci, carské jablko, leží tu na zemi, červivé a shnilé. Je konec, je konec pod zlatými báněmi, smrt hlídá hřbitov historie.

The orb, symbol of power, lying on the ground, an apple worm-­eaten and rotten. All’s over, all is over ­under the golden domes, death is guarding history’s graveyard.

Brnění, prázdná jako zlaté ořechy, na kobercích nevídaných vzorů a empírové kočáry jedou nazpět do minulých století, bez koní, bez světel, bez pasažérů.

Suits of armour, empty like golden nutshells on carpets of unparalleled design, and Empire carriages drive back into the past without ­horses, without lights, without occupants.

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Article XCIX. Jaroslav Seifert (1901–1986) Article C. Article CI.

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Jaroslav Seifert, “Moskva.” Slavík zpívá špatně (Odeon, 1926), 47–48. © Jaroslav Seifert—­heirs c/o DILIA, 1926. Available from: http://­w ww​.­szs​-­bnl​.­wz​.c­ z​/­storage​/­1180119961​_ s­ b​_ ­seifert​ -­slavikzpivaspatne​.­pdf. Web. 14 Dec 2020; “Moscow.” Translated from the original Czech by Ewald Osers, The Poetry of Jaroslav Seifert, edited and with prose translations by George Gibian (Catbird Press, 1998), 34. Poster design by Kristen Miranda. Selected and prepared by Emily Van Buskirk. StudentCurator Valentina Melikhova.

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水调歌头· 明月几时有

Mid-­Autumn Moon How rare the moon, so round and clear! With cup in hand, I ask of the blue sky, “I do not know in the celestial sphere What name this festive night goes by?” I want to fly home, riding the air, But fear the ethereal cold up t­ here, The jade and crystal mansions are so high! Dancing to my shadow, I feel no longer the mortal tie. She rounds the vermilion tower, Stoops to silk-­pad doors, Shines on ­those who sleepless lie. Why does she, bearing us no grudge, Shine upon our parting, reunion deny? But rare is perfect happiness— The moon does wax, the moon does wane, And so men meet and say goodbye. I only pray our life be long, And our souls together heavenward fly!

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Article CII. Su Shi (1037–1101) Article CIII.

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Su Shi, “水调歌头 · 明月几时有” / “Mid-­Autumn Moon.” Translated from the original Chinese and edited by Lin Yutang, The Gay Genius: The Life a nd Times of Su Tungpo (The John Day Com­pany, 1947), 175–176. Reproduced with permission of Curtis Brown Group Ltd, London on behalf of the Estate of Lin Yutang. Copyright © Lin Yutang 1947. Poster design by Jocelyn Orante. Student-Curator Tianqi Ying.

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La Mia Abebà

My Abebà

C’era un’asmarina a Haz-­Haz, sulla collina, Ahimè...Abebà la bella, composta e snella; fiore rimava con Abebà come il bistro e l’occhio!

On the hill of Haz-­Haz lived a girl from Asmara. Alas...beautiful Abebà, poised and slender; a flower that rhymes Abebà like kohl rhymes round an eye!

Perché il mondo comprendesse, mentre scavavano la sua fossa, avvolta nella morte misteriosa, intrecciò un aghelghel e lo mandò senza hmbascià.

So that the world may know: while they ­were digging her grave, cloaked in mystery and death, she wove an aghelghel basket and sent it empty of hmbascià bread.

In un’intensa notte, me la rapirono con le manette! ………………………………………………… Ogni giorno è assente, ma nel buio è onnipresente! Poiché non vuole separarsi da me, portatemi l’aghelghel della mia Abebà: forse è lì la risposta, la chiave delle sue manette,

On an indelible night, they took her from me in handcuffs! …………………………………………………………. ­Every day I feel her absence but in the dark she’s everywhere.

che ora stringono me. C’è uno scritto solo “un ricordo ai miei,” sull’aghelghel della mia Abebà, appassito fiore prima di sbocciare, la mia compagna di prigione.

She never wants to leave me so bring me the aghelghel of my Abebà maybe it holds the answer, the key to her handcuffs that now bite into me. ­ here’s only one inscriptionT ‘A memento for my loved ones’on the aghelghel of my Abebà, a flower who faded before she bloomed, My friend in prison.

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Article CIV. Ribka Sibhatu (1962–) Article CV.

210

Ribka Sibhatu, “La mia Abebà.” Poetry Translation Centre. Available from: https://­w ww​ .­poetrytranslation​.­org​/­poems​/­my​-­abeba​/­original. Web. 27 August 2020; “My Abebà.” Translated from original Italian by André Naffis-­Sahley and The Poetry Translation Workshop, Poetry Translation Centre. Available from: www​.­poetrytranslation​.­org​/­poems​/­my​-­abeba. Web. 27 August 2020. Poster design by Rawan Haroun. Student-Curator Ingrid Kuribayashi assisted by Paris Downing.

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Ὁ Ῥωμηός

The Greek

Στὸν καφενὲ ἀπ᾿ ἔξω σὰν μπέης ξαπλωμένος,  τοῦ ἥλιου τὶς ἀκτίνες ἀχόρταγα ρουφῶ,  καὶ στῶν ἐφημερίδων τὰ νέα βυθισμένος,  κανέναν δὲν κοιτάζω, κανένα δὲν ψηφῶ.

Sitting like a bey outside of a coffee shop, I greedily absorb the rays of the sun, and submerged in the newspaper’s news, I look at no one, I pay attention to no one.

Σὲ μιὰ καρέκλα τὅνα ποδάρι μου τεντώνω,  τὸ ἄλλο σὲ μιὰν ἄλλη, κι ὀλίγο παρεκεῖ ἀφίνω τὸ καπέλλο, καὶ ἀρχινῶ μὲ τόνο τοὺς ὑπουργοὺς νὰ βρίζω καὶ τὴν πολιτική.

On one chair I stretch out one leg, and on another chair, the other leg, and close by me I leave my hat, and I begin to loudly curse politicians and politics.

Ψυχή μου ! τὶ λιακάδα ! τὶ οὐρανός ! τὶ φύσις ! ἀχνίζει ἐμπροστά μου ὁ καϊμακλὴς καφές,  κι ἐγὼ κατεμπνευσμένος γιὰ ὅλα φέρνω κρίσεις,  καὶ μόνος μου τὶς βρίσκω μεγάλες καὶ σοφές.

My soul! What sunshine! What a clear sky! What beautiful nature! The frothy coffee in front of me steams, and I, inspired, express my opinions, which I find to be ­grand and wise.

Βρίζω Ἐγγλέζους, Ρώσους, καὶ ὅποιους ἄλλους θέλω,  καὶ στρίβω τὸ μουστάκι μ᾿ ἀγέρωχο πολύ,  καὶ μέσα στὸ θυμό μου κατὰ διαβόλου στέλλω τὸν ἴδιον ἑαυτό μου, καὶ γίνομαι σκυλί. Φέρνω τὸν νοῦν στὸν Διάκο καὶ εἰς τὸν Καραΐσκο,  κατενθουσιασμένος τὰ γένια μου μαδῶ,  τὸν Ἕλληνα εἰς ὅλα ἀνώτερο τὸν βρίσκω,  κι ἀπάνω στὴν καρέκλα χαρούμενος πηδῶ. Τὴν φίλη μας Εὐρώπη μὲ πέντε φασκελώνω,  ἀπάνω στὸ τραπέζι τὸν γρόθο μου κτυπῶ... Ἐχύθη ὁ καφές μου, τὰ ροῦχα μου λερώνω,  κι ὅσες βλαστήμιες ξέρω ἀρχίζω νὰ τὶς πῶ. Στὸν καφετζὴ ξεσπάω... φωτιὰ κι ἐκεῖνος παίρνει. Ἀμέσως ἄνω κάτω τοῦ κάνω τὸν μπουφέ,  τὸν βρίζω καὶ μὲ βρίζει, τὸν δέρνω καὶ μὲ δέρνει,  καὶ τέλος... δὲν πληρώνω δεκάρα τὸν καφέ.

I curse the En­glish, the Rus­sians, and anyone ­else I desire, I haughtily twist my mustache upwards, and, in anger, send to hell my own self and I become a savage. I bring to mind our national heroes: Diako and Karaisko, enthusiastically, I pluck handfuls of my beard, I find the Greek superior in all t­ hings, and I bounce happily on my chair. To our friend, Eu­rope, I gesture insultingly, on the ­table I pound my fist… I spill my coffee and stain my clothes, and say all the curses I know. I lash out on the coffee shop owner... he becomes angry, too. Immediately I overturn every­thing on the ­counter, I curse him and he curses me, I hit him and he hits me, And in the end... I d ­ on’t pay a penny for the coffee.

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Article CVI. Georgios Souris (1853–1919)

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Georgios Souris, “Ὁ Ῥωμηός” / “The Greek,” Panellenios Anthologio, Etoi Apanthisma Ton Eklektoteron Hellenikon Poiematon, ed. Demetrios K. Kokkinakes (Dialesma, 1899), 622–623. Unpublished translation from the original Modern Greek by Konstantina Damvakaris. Poster design by Melissa Perdomo. Student-Curator Ian C. Lovoulos assisted by Konstantina Damvakaris.

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దేశ చరితల ్ర ు

Histories of the Nations

ఏ దేశచరిత్ర చూచినా ఏమున్నది గర్వకారణం? నరజాతి చరిత్ర సమస్తం పరపీడన పరాయణత్వం.

Whichever nation’s history you see,    What reason is ­there to be proud?     The history of mankind comes from the exploitation of the “other.”

నరజాతి చరిత్ర సమస్తం పరస్పరాహరణోద్యో గం; నరజాతి చరిత్ర సమస్తం రణరక్త ప్రవాహసిక్తం.

The history of mankind       is built from shared cycles of destruction;   The history of mankind      is one of bloodshed.

బీభత్సరస ప్రధానం, పిశాచగణ సమవాకారం! నరజాతి చరిత్ర సమస్తం దరిద్రులను కాల్చుకు తినడం.

Terrifying by nature,            marshalled by dev­ils!        The history of mankind is made from the ravaging of the destitute.

బలవంతులు దుర్బల జాతిని బానిసలను కావించారు; నరహంతలు ధరాధిపతుల�ై చరితమ ్ర ున ప్రసిదధి ్ కెక్కిరి.

The mighty made slaves           out of the meek. Oppressors became rulers of the world,   glorified in its history.

రణరంగం కానిచోటు భూ స్థలమంతా వెదికిన దొ రకదు; గతమంతా తడిసె రక్త మున, కాకుంటే కన్నీళ్ళతో.

No place exists that was not once a battlefield.      The past is pierced with bloodshed,         if not with tears.

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

Article CVII. Srirangam Srinivasa Rao (Sri Sri) (1910–1983) Article CVIII.

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Srirangam Srinivasa Rao (Sri Sri), “Desa Caritralu” / “Histories of the Nations,” lines 1–20, Mahaprasthanam / The ­Great Journey (Vijaywada: Visalaandhra Publishing House, 1981), 75–76, Unpublished translation from the original Telugu by Swathi Gorle, doctoral student in Art History and Cultural Heritage and Preservation Studies. Poster design by Kristen Miranda. Student-Curator Pratyusha Reddy.

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Schlachtfeld

Battlefield

Schollenmürbe schläfert ein das Eisen Blute filzen Sickerflecke Roste krumen Fleische schleimen Saugen brünstet um Zerfallen Mordesmorde Blinzen Kinderblicke

Yielding clod lulls iron off to sleep bloods clot the patches where they oozed rusts crumble fleshes slime sucking lusts around decay. Murder on murder blinks in childish eyes.

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Article CIX. August Stramm (1874–1915) Article CX. Article CXI.

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August Stramm, “Schlachtfeld.” Tropfblut: Gedichte (Verlag der Sturm, 1915), 20. Available from: https://­ lifedays​-­seite​.­de​/­literatur​_ ­stramm​_­tropfblut​_ ­gedichte​ .­pdf. Web. 27 August 2020; “Battlefield.” Translated from the original German by Michael Hamburger, The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry, ed. Job Silkin (Penguin Books, 1996), 250. Reprinted by permission of Michael Hamburger Trust. Poster design by Sunhith Reddy. Student-Curator Jessica Fitzner. Image credit: Otto Dix. Wounded Man, 1916, Bapaume from the portfolio The War. 1924. Etching and aquatint. Publisher: Karl Nierendorf, Berlin. Printer: Otto Felsing, Berlin. Gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. © 2021 Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York/ VG Bild-­Kunst, Bonn; Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/ Licensed by SCALA/ Art Resource, NY.

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Jacyś Ludzie

Some ­People

Jacyś ludzie w ucieczce przed jakimiś ludźmi. W jakimś kraju pod słońcem i niektórymi chmurami.

Some ­people flee some other ­people. In some country u ­ nder a sun and some clouds.

Zostawiają za sobą jakieś swoje wszystko, obsiane pola, jakieś kury, psy, lusterka, w których właśnie przegląda się ogień.

They abandon something close to all ­they’ve got, sown fields, some chickens, dogs, mirrors in which fire now preens.

Mają na plecach dzbanki i tobołki, im bardziej puste, tym z dnia na dzień cięższe.

Their shoulders bear pitchers and bundles. The emptier they get, the heavier they grow.

Odbywa się po cichu czyjeś ustawanie, a w zgiełku czyjeś komuś chleba wydzieranie i czyjeś martwym dzieckiem potrząsanie.

What happens quietly: someone’s dropping from exhaustion. What happens loudly: someone’s bread is ripped away, someone tries to shake a limp child back to life.

Przed ni­mi jakaś wciąż nie tędy droga, nie ten, co trzeba most nad rzeką dziwnie różową. Dokoła jakieś strzały, raz bliżej, raz dalej, w górze samolot trochę kołujący. Przydałaby się jakaś niewidzialność, jakaś bura kamienność, a jeszcze lepiej niebyłość na pewien krótki czas albo i długi. Coś jeszcze się wydarzy, tylko gdzie i co. Ktoś wyjdzie im naprzeciw, tylko kiedy, kto, w ilu postaciach i w jakich zamiarach. Jeśli będzie miał wybór, może nie zechce być wrogiem i pozostawi ich przy jakimś życiu.

Always another wrong road ahead of them, always another wrong bridge across an oddly reddish river. Around them, some gunshots, now nearer, now farther away, above them a plane seems to circle. Some invisibility would come in handy, some grayish stoniness, or, better yet, some nonexistence for a shorter or a longer while. Something ­else ­will happen, only where and what. Someone ­will come at them, only when and who, in how many shapes, with what intentions. If he has a choice, maybe he ­won’t be the ­enemy and ­will let them live some sort of life.

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

Article CXII. Wisława Szymborska (1923–­2012) Article CXIII.

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Wisława Szymborska, “Jacyś Ludzie” / “Some ­People.” Translated from the original Polish by Clare Cavanagh and Stanisław Barańczak. Chwila / Moment (Wydawnictwo Znak, 2003), 62–65. Copyright © for translation of “Jacyś ludzie” by Clare Cavanagh & Stanisław Barańczak. “This Translation is published by arrangement with Społeczny Instytut Wydawniczy Znak Sp. z o.o., Kraków, Poland.” Poster design by Atif Akin.

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‫ׁשנָּה א ֶֶרץ‬ ְ ֶ ‫ י‬:‫אֹומ ְִרים‬

­There Is a Land, They Say

,‫ׁשנָּה א ֶֶרץ‬ ְ ֶ ‫ י‬:‫אֹומ ְִרים‬ ...‫ׁשמֶׁש‬ ֶ ‫א ֶֶרץ ְרוַת‬ ?‫ַאּי ֵה אֹותָ ּה א ֶֶרץ‬ ?‫ׁשמֶׁש‬ ֶ ‫אֵיפ ֹה אֹותֹו‬

­ here is a land, they say, T A sun-­drenched land... Where is that land? Where is that sun?

‫ׁשנָּה א ֶֶרץ‬ ְ ֶ ‫ י‬:‫אֹומ ְִרים‬ ,‫ׁש ְבעָה‬ ִ ‫עַּמּודֶ י ָה‬ ‫­ ֶלכֶת‬- ‫ׁש ְבעָה ּכֹו ְכבֵי‬ ִ .‫ָצצִים עַל ָכּל ִּג ְבעָה‬

­ here is a land, they say, T Seven are its pillars, Seven planets Appear on ­every hill.

‫א ֶֶרץ –­ ָבּּה י ְ ֻקּי ַם‬ ,‫ָכּל ֲאׁשֶר אִיׁש ִקּוָה‬ –‫נִ ְכנַס ָכּל ַהּנִ ְכנָס‬ .‫ָּפגַע ּבֹו ֲעקִיבָא‬

A land –­where ­will come true All that man hoped for, All who entered – Chanced upon Akiva.

!‫ ֲעקִיבָא‬,‫”ׁשָלֹום לְָך‬ !‫ ַר ִבּי‬,‫ׁשָלֹום לְָך‬ ,‫אֵיפ ֹה הֵם ַהּקְדֹוׁשִים‬ “?‫אֵיפ ֹה ַה ַּמ ַכּ ִבּי‬ ,‫עֹונֶה לֹו ֲעקִיבָא‬ :‫אֹומֵר לֹו ה ַָר ִבּי‬ ,‫” ָכּל יִשׂ ְָראֵל קְדֹוׁשִים‬ “‫אַּתָ ה ַה ַּמ ַ ּכ ִבּי‬

“Shalom to you, Akiva! Shalom to you, rabbi! Where are the saints, Where is the Maccabee?” Answers Akiva, Says the rabbi: “All the ­people of Israel are saints, You are the Maccabee” Article CXIV. Shaul Tchernichovsky (1875–1943) Article CXV.

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Shaul Tchernichovsky, “‫שנָּה א ֶֶרץ‬ ׁ ְ ֶ ‫ י‬:‫אֹומ ְִרים‬,” (1929 version*), https://­benyehuda​.­org​/­. Web. 27 August 2020; “­There Is a Land, They Say.” (1929 version), Unpublished translation from the original Hebrew by Reg Lee Sekkotin. Poster design by Nicole ­Sullivan. Student-Curator Jenna Kershenbaum.

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* Shaul Tchernichovsky wrote two versions of this poem, one in 1924, the other (reproduced above) in 1929. The longer 1924 version has been modified in many dif­fer­ent ways in l­ ater years by popular Israeli artists.

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ՊՈԼԻՍ

Constantinople

Անգամ մըն ալ դուն սեւցա՜ր աչfիս առջեւ, հին պատկե՛ր Բըլուրներու մէջտեղէն անցնող ծովուն դարձդարձիկ, Որուն կապոյտը կ՚առնէ մերթ զմրուխտի երանգներ Ու կ՚օրրէ մերթ ըսպիտակ ամպը իր մէջ ցոլացիկ…

Once again you have grown dim before my eyes. An old photo­graph Of a waterway winding through hills, Whose blue now and then takes on shades of emerald And now and then lulls to sleep the glimmering white clouds reflected in it…

Օ՛հ, գարնան հովն՝ այս ջուրին հոտով ամբողջ թաթաւուն, Ի՜նչպէս թեթեւ կը թըռի ամենուրեf ՝ ափերո՛ւն Վըրայ անոր եւ բարձանց վրայ ցամաfին եւ ամէն Կածաններուն մէջ՝ կայթող իր ոտfերուն հըպումէն…։

Oh, the spring breeze, laden with the scent of saltwater. How nimbly it travels through the air in ­every direction: Along the shores, up to the hilltops and Down ­every path, each footstep releasing its scent into the air…

…Բայց դուն, տեսի՛լf ընտանի, հիմա ա՜յնչափ հեռացած, Ըսէ՛, իրա՞ւ է որ ա՛լ պիտի երբեf չըբացուիս Դիմացն ըզfեզ փնտըռող իմ անսահման կարօտիս… Դուն որ եղար, ո՛վ Պոլիս, լոյսն աչfերուս նորաբաց, Ճի՞շդ է, ըսէ՛, որ ա՛լ մենf օտարնե՜ր ենf իրարու Եւ իրաւունf չունի՜մ ես fու հողիդ մէջ թաղուելու…։

…But you, familiar sight now so far away, Tell me, is it true that you ­will never again open your arms wide before My infinite longing, still searching for you…? Oh Constantinople, it was your light that my eyes first saw at birth. Tell me, is it true that we are now strangers, That I have no right to be buried in your earth…?

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

Article CXVI. Vahan Tekeyan (1878–1945) Article CXVII. Article CXVIII. Article CXIX.

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Vahan Tekeyan, > Սէր։ քերթուածներ (1919–1933) [Love: Poems], Paris, 1933, 100; “Constantinople.” Unpublished translation from the original Armenian by Jennifer Manoukian and Daniel Ohanian. Poster design by Jia Hang Zhang. Student-Curator Ian C. Lovoulos assisted by Jennifer Manoukian.

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Congoja

Anguish

Súbitamente, al bajar la tiniebla, te sentí muy lejos, en una región indefensa y a merced de todas las grandes inclemencias. Te sentí borrosa y plañidera; el corazón sin ancla y sin vela.

Suddenly as the darkness fell, I felt you ­were far from me, in a distant region defenseless, unsheltered, at the mercy of all the wild ele­ments. I felt you ­were shadowy and sorely lamenting; your heart was without anchor, without sails.

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

Article CXX. José Moreno Villa (1887–1955) Article CXXI. Article CXXII.

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José Moreno Villa, “Congoja” / “Anguish.” Translated from the original Spanish by Eleanor Turnbull, Con­ temporary Spanish Poetry: Se­lections from Ten Poets, Pedro Salinas (ed.) (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1945), 46–47. © 1945 Francis T. Kidder. Reprinted with permission of Johns Hopkins University Press. Poster design by Melissa Perdomo. Student-Curator Francisco Rodriguez.

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भगवद्गीता

Bhagavad Gita

मूल श्लोकःअर्जुन उवाच

Chapter One -­Prince Arjuna to Lord Kṛṣ­ṇa

कृपया परयाऽऽविष्टो विषीदन्निदमब्रवीत्। दृष्ट्वे मं स्वजनं कृष्ण युयुत्सुं समुपस्थितम्।।1.28।। सीदन्ति मम गात्राणि मुखं च परिशुष्यति। वेपथुश्च शरीरे मे रोमहर्षश्च जायते।।1.29।। गाण्डीवं स्रंसते हस्तात्त्वक्चैव परिदह्यते। न च शक्नोम्यवस्थातुं भ्रमतीव च मे मनः।।1.30।। निमित्तानि च पश्यामि विपरीतानि केशव। न च श्रेयोऽनुपश्यामि हत्वा स्वजनमाहवे।।1.31।। न काङ्क्षे विजयं कृष्ण न च राज्यं सुखानि च। किं नो राज्येन गोविन्द किं भोगैर्जीवितेन वा।।1.32।। येषामर्थे काितं नो राज्यं भोगाः सुखानि च। त इमेऽवस्थिता युद्धे प्राणां स्त्यक्त्वा धनानि च।।1.33।। आचार्याः पितरः पुत्रास्तथैव च पितामहाः। मातुलाः श्चशुराः पौत्राः श्यालाः सम्बन्धिनस्तथा।।1.34।। एतान्न हन्तुमिच्छामि घ्नतोऽपि मधुसूदन। अपि त्रैलोक्यराज्यस्य हे तोः किं नु महीकृते।।1.35।।

Arjuna said: O Kṛṣ­ṇa, seeing our own ­people standing near, ­eager to fight, my limbs weaken and my mouth dries up. My body ­trembles, my hairs stand up, Gāṇḍīva slips from my hand and, truly, my skin burns. I have no power to stand, my mind reels, O Kṛṣ­ṇa, and I see ill omens. I foresee no good, Kṛṣ­ṇa, in killing our own ­people in ­battle, and seek neither victory nor kingdom nor pleasures. What is a kingdom to us, Kṛṣ­ṇa? What are worldly pleasures, or life itself, when ­those for whose sake we seek kingdom, pleasures and joys—­those very persons—­confront us in ­battle, sacrificing life and fortune: teachers, ­fathers, sons and grand­fathers; ­uncles, fathers-­in-­law, grand­sons, brothers-­in-­law and other close kin? I do not want to kill them even if they are killing us, Madhũsudana—­not for a cosmic kingdom, far less for ­Great Earth. O Kṛṣ­ṇa, Janārdana, what joy can ­there be in slaying Dhṛta-­rāṣṭra’s sons?

मूल श्लोकः कृष्ण उवाच स्वधर्ममपि चावेक्ष्य न विकम्पितुमर्हसि। धर्म्याद्धि युद्धाछ्रेयोऽन्यत्क्षत्रियस्य न विद्यते।।2.31।। यदृच्छया चोपपन्नं स्वर्गद्वारमपावृतम्। सुखिनः क्षत्रियाः पार्थ लभन्ते युद्धमीदृशम्।।2.32।। अथ चैत्त्वमिमं धर्म्यं संग्रामं न करिष्यसि। ततः स्वधर्मं कीर्तिं च हित्वा पापमवाप्स्यसि।।2.33।। अकीर्तिं चापि भूतानि कथयिष्यन्ति तेऽव्ययाम्। संभावितस्य चाकीर्तिर्मरणादतिरिच्यते।।2.34।। भयाद्रणादु परतं मंस्यन्ते त्वां महारथाः। येषां च त्वं बहुमतो भूत्वा यास्यसि लाघवम्।।2.35।। अवाच्यवादां श्च बहून् वदिष्यन्ति तवाहिताः। निन्दन्तस्तव सामर्थ्यं ततो दु ःखतरं नु किम्।।2.36।। हतो वा प्राप्स्यसि स्वर्गं जित्वा वा भोक्ष्यसे महीम्। तस्मादुत्तिष्ठ कौन्तेय युद्धाय कृतनिश्चयः।।2.37।। सुखदु ःखे समे कृत्वा लाभालाभौ जयाजयौ। ततो युद्धाय युज्यस्व नैवं पापमवाप्स्यसि।।2.38।।

Chapter Two -­Lord Kṛṣ­ṇa to Arjuna And also, considering your dhar­ma, you should not falter. For a warrior ­there is nothing better than righ­teous b ­ attle. Happy, Pārtha, are warriors who gain such ­battle that comes of its own, opening wide heaven’s gate. Now if you ­will not fight this righ­teous ­battle then, giving up your dhar­ma and reputation, you ­will incur sin. ­People w ­ ill proclaim your perpetual infamy; and for the highly esteemed, infamy is worse than death. ­Great Chariots ­will think you fled the fight in fear; you ­will be shamed before ­those who gave you high regard. Your enemies ­will ridicule your power, speaking many unutterable ­things. What pain is worse than this? If slain, you ­will reach heaven; conquering, you ­will rule ­Great Earth. Therefore, arise Kaunteya! Decide for ­battle! Treating as equal plea­sure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat, engage for war and incur no sin.

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

Article CXXIII. Sage Vyasa (fifth ­century bce to second ­century bce)

226

Sage Vyasa, “Srimad Bhagavad Gita,” Chapter 1, excerpt, lines 27–35. Gita Supersite, Indian Institute of Technology. Available from: https://­w ww​.­gitasupersite​.­iitk​.­ac​.­in​/­srimad​?­language​= ­dv&field​_­chapter​_­value​=­1&field​_ ­nsutra​_­value​=­1. Web. 27 August 2020; “Bhagavad Gita,” Chapter 1, excerpt. Translated from the original Sans­k rit by H. D. Goswami, A Comprehensive Guide to BHAGAVAD-­GITA with Literal Translation (Krishna West Inc., 2015), 153; “Srimad Bhagavad Gita,” Chapter 2, excerpt, lines 30–38, Gita Supersite, Indian Institute of Technology. Available from: https://­w ww​.­gitasupersite​ .­iitk​.­ac​.­in​/­srimad​?­language​= ­dv&field​_c­ hapter​_­value​=2­ &field​_ ­nsutra​_­value​=­1. Web. 27 August 2020; “Bhagavad Gita,” Chapter 2, excerpt. Translated from the original Sans­k rit by H. D. Goswami, A Comprehensive Guide to BHAGAVAD-­GITA with Literal Translation (Krishna West Inc., 2015), 157. Poster design by Melissa Perdomo. Student-Curator Neil Shah.

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そうなった時､ 怯えるだろう

When It Happens, I ­Will Be Afraid

そうなった時､ 怯えるだろう ぼくは うそつきじゃない 勇気ある者だ

When it happens, I ­will be afraid. I am not a liar. I am courageous.

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

Article CXXIV. Author Unknown Article CXXV.

228

Author unknown, “When It happens, I Will Be Afraid.” Translated from the original Japa­nese by Ramona ­Waters and Ali Hassan, Jodiann Stevenson, “An Excerpt from Kamikaze Death Poetry.” SPECS Journal of Art and Culture, Vol. 2, Article 54, 2009, 175. Available from: https://­ scholarship​.­rollins​.e­ du​/­specs​/­vol2​/i­ ss1​/­54. Web. 27 August 2020. Unpublished translation from the En­glish (back into Japa­nese) by Anonymous. Poster design by Ryan Farrell. Student-Curator Ingrid Kuribayashi. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File:72nd Shinbu 1945 Kamikaze.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, the ­f ree media repository, https://­commons​.­wikimedia​.­org​/w ­ ​ /­index​.­php​?­title​=F­ ile:72nd​_ S­ hinbu​_­1945​_ ­Kamikaze​ .­jpg&oldid​= 6­ 00767037 (accessed May 31, 2022).

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When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d

Au temps dernier que les lilas fleurirent

... I saw battle-­corpses, myriads of them, And the white skele­tons of young men, I saw them, I saw the debris and debris of all the slain soldiers of the war, But I saw they ­were not as was thought, They themselves ­were fully at rest, they suffer’d not, The living remain’d and suffer’d, the ­mother suffer’d, And the wife and the child and the musing comrade suffer’d, And the armies that remain’d suffer’d.

... Je vis les corps après la bataille, myriades de cadavres, Et les squelettes blanchis des jeunes hommes, je les vis, Je vis dépouilles et dépouilles, de tous les soldats immolés en la guerre, Mais je vis qu’ils n’étaient point comme on croyait, Eux-­mêmes ils étaient parfaitement au repos, ils ne souffraient pas, C’étaient les vivants restés qui souffraient, la mère qui souffrait, Et la femme et l’enfant et le camarade songeur qui souffraient, Et les armées des survivants qui souffraient.

Passing the visions, passing the night, Passing, unloosing the hold of my comrades’ hands, Passing the song of the hermit bird and the tallying song of my soul, Victorious song, death’s outlet song, yet varying ever-­altering song, As low and wailing, yet clear the notes, rising and falling, flooding the night, Sadly sinking and fainting, as warning and warning, and yet again bursting with joy, Covering the earth and filling the spread of the heaven, As that power­f ul psalm in the night I heard from recesses, Passing, I leave thee lilac with heart-­shaped leaves, I leave thee ­there in the door-­yard, blooming, returning with spring. I cease from my song for thee, From my gaze on thee in the west, fronting the west, communing with thee, O comrade lustrous with silver face in the night.

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Article CXXVI. Walt Whitman (1819–1892) Article CXXVII.

230

Passant les visions, passant la nuit, Passant, lâchant la main de mes camarades que je tenais, Passant la chanson de l’oiseau ermite et la chanson concordante de mon âme, Chanson de victoire, chanson écoulant la mort, chanson pourtant diverse et toujours changeante, Tantôt basse et plaintive, les notes claires pourtant s’élevant et retombant, inondant la nuit, Succombant, défaillant de tristesse, tantôt avertissant, avertissant, et pourtant éclatant à nouveau de joie, Couvrant la terre et emplissant l’immensité du ciel, Tantôt ce psaume puissant dans la nuit que j’entendis venir des replis, Passant, je te laisse, toi, lilas aux feuilles en cœur, Je te laisse là dans le courtil, en fleurs, de retour avec le printemps. Je cesse mon chant en ton honneur, De fixer mes regards sur toi à l’ouest, de faire face à l’ouest, de m’unir à toi, O camarade éclatant, à la face argentée dans la nuit.

Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d.” excerpt Memories of President Lincoln (Portland, ME: Thomas B. Mosher, 1912), 9–10; “Au temps dernière que les lilas fleurirent dans le jardin.” excerpt translated from the original En­glish by Léon Bazalgette, Feuilles d’herbe, volume 2 (Mercure de France, 1922), 78–79. Poster design by Nicole S­ ullivan. Student-Curator Faith Hoatson.

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梵高与你—­—给 ­ 小霞

Van Gogh and You —­for Xiao Xia

你的字总让我自卑 信中的绝望难以辨认 而笔划却趋于完美 梵高的向日葵, 长在 你握笔磨出的厚茧上

Your penmanship puts me to shame in your letters (each stroke a paragon) who’d catch the hint of despair? at the calluses where you grasp the pen Van Gogh’s sunflowers bloom

那把空椅子很珍贵 不是你读书写信的地方 换一个姿势 就是换一种记忆 你平静地面对劫掠 一个人欣赏梵高的画

How precious that empty chair! not for reading and writing, but for remembering each shift of the shoulders calls up another time you endure the raids with equanimity and savor Van Gogh’s images alone

每天都用心跳行走 总以为再迈一步就是尽头 撞墙的预感引导着你 在爱的反面 在死的另一面 梵高的播种者 毁于刚刚萌芽的种子 对于你 房间等同于天堂 从外面回家 似乎就得到了拯救 在无人哀悼亡灵的时刻 每个人都成为了歌手 惟有你保持沉默 守着那把空椅子 血腥的记忆勒住咽喉 词是咸的 声音是黑色的 全天候的跟踪 和大脑中的监视器 也抢不走你的笔 和画中的那场大雪

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

梵高割下的耳朵在飞翔 为你寻找一种色彩 一双沾满泥巴的农鞋 在笨拙地行走 带你去耶路撒冷的哭墙

232

晓波 1997.8.14

With your heart in your mouth each step may be your last sensing obstacles ahead, you pick your way across the opposite of love and on the other side of death where Van Gogh’s Sower comes to grief amid his sprouting seeds For you, a single room is Heaven returning home, deliverance now, when every­one’s become a singer and ­there’s none to mourn the dead you alone keep still beside that empty chair Bloody deeds remembered grip the throat words are salty, voices dim neither round-­the-­clock surveillance nor the watcher in your mind can snatch away your pen and the blizzard in the painting Van Gogh’s severed ear takes flight seeking the right tint for you the clumsy stride of muddy peasant shoes ­shall bear you to Jerusalem’s wailing wall

August 14, 1997

Article CXXVIII. Liu Xiaobo (1955–2017)

Liu Xiaobo, “梵高与你—­—给 ­ 小霞.” 1997. Available from: http://­w ww​.­liu​-x ­ iaobo​.­org​/­blog​/­a rchives​ /­18360. Web. 27 August 2020; “Van Gogh and You.” Translated from the original Chinese by A.E. Clark, No Enemies, No Hatred: Selected Essays and Poems, ed. Perry Link, Tienchi Martin-­Liao, and Liu Xia, Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Copyright © 2012 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, 148–149. Poster design by Jessica Weisser. Student-Curator Tianqi Ying assisted by Fang Du.

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Note on Redacted Poems

CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

The following portion of this cata­logue pre­sents two posters from the original exhibition with the poetic text blurred out for the reader. ­These works represent the instances where the editor was unable to secure copyright permission for reuse. While ­every effort was made for over three years to secure the appropriate rights, notably works from South Asian and African poets, remain out of reach. Rather than exclude ­these works completely, I pre­sent the posters to you with citations so that the reader might choose to contemplate ­these poems for themselves. Rather than limit the geographic and cultural diversity of this proj­ect, this addendum holds space for the original richness of this proj­ect and calls attention to the limiting potential of copyright restrictions that too often prohibit scholarship and engagement with materials not easily traceable or tied up in ­legal restrictions.

234

Harivansh Rai Bachchan. “Agneepath.” Translated from the original Hindi by Anonymous. Available from: https://­lyricstranslate​.­com​/­en​/­agneepath​-­poem​-­path​ -­fire​-­poem​.­html​- ­0. Poster design by Jessica Weisser. Student-Curator Neil Shah. Selected and prepared for poster Niharika Nehra.

235

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CATA­LOGUE OF POSTERS

236

Asha Lul Mohamud Yusuf, “Gocasho” / “Recollection.” Poetry Translation Centre, translated from the original Somali by Said Jama Hussein and Clare Pollard. Available from: https://­w ww​.­poetrytranslation​.­org​/­poems​ /­recollection​/­original. Web. 31 May 2022. Poster design by Rawan Haroun. Selected and prepared for poster by Gabriel Bamgbose.

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ACKNOWL­EDGMENTS

the poetries –­ politics proj­e ct would not have been pos­si­ble without the incredible generosity of time, expertise, and support given by both members of the Rutgers community and beyond. Creating a work of such rich diversity and ingenuity was achievable only through the collaboration of collective voices, perspectives, and experiences. We thank the following ­people for their foundational roles in making this proj­ect a real­ity and acknowledge their contributions to the pre­sent volume. Special thanks are due to the students whose creativity inspired the works you find ­here. The students below ­shaped this proj­ect with their generative ideas and collaborative nature. This proj­ ect is indebted to the graphic design students, student-­curators, film students, and Interdisciplinary Research Students who each left their own mark on the proj­ect you see culminating in this volume.

Student-­Designers Devon Monaghan (MGSA 2018)

Nicole ­Sullivan (MGSA 2018)

Jia Hang Zhang (MGSA 2020)

Rawan Haroun (MGSA 2018)

Jocelyn Orante (MGSA 2018)

Kristen Miranda (MGSA 2019)

Melissa Perdomo (MGSA 2019)

Opinder Singh (MGSA 2019) Ryan Farrell (MGSA 2019)

Sunhith Reddy (MGSA 2020)

Acknowl­edgments

Jessica Weisser (MGSA 2018)

239

Student-­Curators Ethel M. Osorio (SAS 2018)

Kimberly Peterman (SAS 2018)

Francisco Rodriguez (SAS 2018)

Neil Shah (SAS 2020)

Faith Hoatson (SAS 2019)

Naima Ouhamou (SAS 2018)

Gabriel Bamgbose (SGS)

Ouafaa Deleger (SGS)

Ingrid Kuribayashi (SAS 2019)

Tianqi Ying (SEBS 2020)

Ian C. Lovoulos (SAS 2019)

Jenna Kershenbaum (SAS 2018) Jessica Fitzner (SAS 2019)

Pratyusha Reddy (RBS 2018) Valentina Melikhova (SAS 2018) Veronika Szabó (SAS 2018)

Interdisciplinary Research Team Students Ashley Fowler (SAS 2020)

Brianna Casas (MGSA 2020)

Elena Lisci (SAS 2022)

Nisha Khan (SAS 2022)

Student Film Directors Andrea Pfaff (MGSA 2020) Chenglei Ye (MGSA 2020)

Haozheng Li (MGSA 2019)

Kelly O’Neil (MGSA 2019) Silvan Lyu (MGSA 2019)

We also extend our sincere gratitude to the numerous contributors who shared their language expertise with the students and faculty orchestrating this proj­ect. Without their help, the number of design briefs and formalized posters would have been severely ­limited. Their generosity and the diversity of knowledge they shared is at the heart of this multi-­lingual, interdisciplinary proj­ect.

Contributors A. Bag

Anne-­Catherine Aubert

A. Lopez-­Perez

C. Charles

A. Frumento

A. Mkrtchyan

Acknowl­edgments

A. Morales

240

A. Torres A. XU

Aamir S

Alice Martin

Bryan Korth C. Cueva

C. Espana

Carlos Narvaez

Corinne Dexter

Diana Schiau-­Botea Doaa Rashed

Drashti Mehta

M. Orze

E. Piziak

Marcy Schwartz

Edyta Bojanowska Emily Ezzo

Emily Kafas

Emily Van Buskirk Emma Burston Fang Du

François Cornilliat G. Hernandez Gomes B

Grace Alt

Grace Schmitt

Hannah Fechtner

Hannah Mulligan Hemani Patel I. Mayer

J. Difilippino J. Mashal

Jannah Bahgat Jason Scot

Jennifer Manoukian Jennifer Tamas

Jeremy Walrond

Joanne Villafañe

Joseph Pierre-­Antoing K. Salcedo

Konstantina Damvakaris

Kris Vassilev, William Paterson University L. Breither

Lauren Riecker M. Benkirane M. Collins

Madhuri Mukherjee Marissa Mathurin Marissa Schwartz Mina Khavandi

Mohana Biswas Mort

N. Migliore

Negar Rokhgar Neha Saju Nehra T

Nkita-­Malaya

Orna Goldman Paris Downing Paula Bisbal

Pierre Cornilliat Preeti Reddy

Pritha Mukherjee R. Johnson

Reg Lee Sekkotin Sam Lee

Sam Vladimirsky Sarah Schrading

Shivani Kommireddi

Simon Wikhamsmith Suchitra Natarajan Swathi Gorle

Tay Wee Siang

Thato Magano Triveni Kuchi Tudor Tarina V. Fahmi

Yara Assadi

Yerlin Brenes

Acknowl­edgments

E. Mao

241

And fi­nally, we thank the many colleagues who supported both the original exhibition and the pre­sent book proj­ect. Special thanks are due in par­tic­u­lar to Lini Radhakrishnan and Kathleen Pierce for their inimitable editorial assistance and herculean efforts in acquiring the over one hundred permissions necessary to make this book a real­ity. Fi­nally, we want to thank the many colleagues listed below who have supported this proj­ect ­here at Rutgers: Amanda Potter

Kara Donaldson

Andrew Parker

Kristin O’Brassill-­Kulfan

Carlos Decena

Maryam Borjian

Andrea Baldi

Anselm Spoerri Carlos Fernandez Carlos Narvaez Charles Haberl Chika Okoye

Christine Giviskos

Christopher Morett Connie Tell

Eddie Konczal

Elizabeth Folk

Elizabeth Lazarre Kaplan Flora Boros

Francesca Giannetti Georgette Mitchell Gerry Beegan

Hanan Kashou Ian Defalco

Ian Stewart

Isabel Nazario

Acknowl­edgments

James Swenson

242

Katherine Kourti

Leigh Passamano Megan Lotts

Michael Joseph Nico Pereda

Nicole Lanuzelli

Nina Echeverria Olga Anna Duhl

Ousseina Alidou Peter March

Rebecca Brenowitz Richard Serrano Rick Lee

Sarah Schroeder Sherri Somers

Stephen Williams Susan Dimaio

Susan Kenney

Susan Lawrence

Thomas Sokolowski Uri Eisenzweig

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—­—— ­ . In Praise of Defeat: Poems. Translated by Donald Nicholson-­ Smith. New York: Archipelago Books, 2016. “Language Engagement Proj­ect.” https://­lep​.­r utgers​.­edu.

Li Qingzhao. “The Complete Ci-­poems of Li Qingzhao: A New En­glish Translation.” Translated by Jiaosheng Wang. Sino-­Platonic Papers 13 (1989). http://­sino​ -­platonic​.­org​/­complete​/­spp013​_ ­li​ _­qingzhao​.­pdf. Link, Perry, Tienchi Martin-­Liao, and Liu Xia, eds. No Enemies, No Hatred: Selected Essays and Poems. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012. Mazrui, Alamin. “In Prison.” Translated by Katriina and the Poetry Translation Workshop. Poetry Translation Centre, n.d. https://­ www​.­poetrytranslation​.­org​ /­poems​/­in​-­prison​-­k izuizini.

—­—­—. “Kizuizini.” Poetry Translation Centre, n.d. https://­w ww​ .­poetrytranslation​.­org​/­poems​/­in​ -­prison​-­k izuizini​/­original. Musthan, Nadeema. “Untitled” / “I Have Occupied the Space.” Translated by Xolisa Guzula. In Publica[c]tion. Johannesburg: Publica[c]tion Collective, 2017. Neruda, Pablo. Canto general. 1950. Chile: Pehuén Editores, 2005.

—­—— ­ . Canto General. Translated by Jack Schmitt. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000.

Nwoye, Chidinma Irene. “African Languages Are the Fastest Growing in the United States.” Quartz Africa, 7 October 2019. https://­qz​.­com​/­a frica​/­1723269​ /­a frican​-­languages​-­a re​-­fastest​ -­ growing-­in-­the-­u nited-­states/.

Ọbasa, Denrele Adetimikan. “D. A. Ọbasa (1879–1945): A Yoruba Poet, Culture Activist and Local Intellectual in Colonial Nigeria.” Translated by Akintunde

Akinyemi. Africa 87, no. 1 (2017). https://­doi​.­org​/­10​.­1017​ /­S0001972016000668.

Ovid. Metamorphoseon Libri XV. Book X (excerpt, lines 238–255, 283–294). N.d. http://­w ww​.­thelatinlibrary​ .­com​/­ovid​/o ­ vid​.­met10​.s­ html​..­

—­—— ­ . Metamorphoses. Book X (excerpt, original Latin poem lines 238–255). Translated by A. S. Kline. 2000. http://­ovid​.­lib​.­virginia​.­edu​ /­trans​/­Metamorph10​.h ­ tm. Pavlov, Konstantin. Стари неща (Old T ­ hings). София: Български Писател, 1983. —­—— ­ . Cry of a Former Dog. Prince­ton, NJ: Ivy Press, 2000.

Pessoa, Fernando. The Keeper of Sheep (O Guardador de Rebanhos). Translated by Edwin Honig and Susan M. Brown. Bronx, NY: Sheep Meadow Press, 1997. Puchner, Martin. “Requiem: How a Poem Resisted Stalin.” BBC, 15 May 2018. www​.­bbc​.­com​/­culture​ /­a rticle​/­20180515​-­requiem​-h ­ ow​-­a​ -­poem​-­resisted​-­stalin.

Radnóti, Miklós. ÖSSZEGYÚJTÖTT VERSEK. Magvetö, 2016.

—­—— ­ . Foamy Sky: The Major Poems of Miklós Radnóti. Translated by Zsuzsanna Ozsváth and Frederick Turner. Prince­ton, NJ: Prince­ton University Press, 1992.

Rahman, Shamsur. কবিতার খাতা (Poetry Book). https://­priyokobita​ .­wordpress​.­com​/­tag​/­shadhinota​ -­t umi​/­.

—­—­—. “Oh Freedom.” Translated by Md. Ziaul Haque, Bangalore Review, 8, no. 6 (Nov. 2020). http://­ bangalorereview​.c­ om​/2­ 016​/­11​/­oh​ -­f reedom/ Raizen, Esther. No Rattling of Sabers: An Anthology of Israeli War Poetry. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995. Rilke, Rainer Maria. “Das Lied des Bettlers.” In Das Buch der Bilder. Berlin: Im Insel-­Verlag, 1920.

—­—— ­ . The Essential Rilke. Translated by Galway Kinnell and Hannah

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—­—— ­ . The Poetry of Jaroslav Seifert. Edited and translated by George Gibian. North Haven, CT: Catbird Press, 1998.

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e­ very effort has been made to trace the owner­ship of copyrighted material and to make full acknowl­edgment of its use. The editor regrets any errors or omissions, which ­w ill be corrected in subsequent editions upon notification in writing to the publisher. Anna Akhmatova, “Всё расхищено, предано, проданo.” The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova, vol. 1 (Brookline, MA: Zephyr Press, 1990). Reprinted by permission of the heir; “Every­thing Is Plundered . . .” En­glish translation from Poems of Akhmatova, selected, translated, and introduced by Stanley Kunitz with Max Hayward (Boston: Mari­ner Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1997), Copyright © 1967, 1968, 1972, 1973 by Stanley Kunitz and Max Hayward. All rights reserved. Used with permission. Alcaeus, “Fragment 130b.” Text and translation from the original Ancient Greek by Lowell Edmunds, “Deixis and Everyday Expressions in Alcaeus frs. 129 V and 130b V,” Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University. Reprinted by permission of Lowell Edmunds. Abu Al-­Qasim Al-­Shabbi, “‫ ” إرادة الحياة‬/ “The ­Will of Life.” Translated from the original Arabic by Naomi Shihab Nye and Lena Jayyusi, Arabic Poems: A Bilingual Edition, ed. Marlé Hammond (New York: Everyman’s Library / Knopf, 2014). Reprinted by permission of translators, 2020. Nazik al-­Malaika, “Cholera.” Translated from the original Arabic by Husain Haddawy, The Poetry of Arab ­Women: A Con­temporary Anthology, ed. Nathalie Handal (Northampton, MA: Interlink Books, 2015). Reprinted by permission of editor.

Ma­ya Angelou, “Still I Rise” from And Still I Rise: A Book of Poems, copyright © 1978 by Ma­ya Angelou. Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved; “Pourtant je m’élève.” French

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Natan Alterman, “‫ ”מגש הכסף‬/ “The Silver Platter.” Translated by Esther Raizen, No Rattling of Sabers: An Anthology of Israeli War Poetry, translation and introduction by Esther Raizen, Copyright © 1995. By permission of University of Texas Press. © Natan Alterman and ACUM.

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translation by Mathilda Légitimus and Samuel Légitimus. © Collectif James Baldwin.

Com­pany, LLC on behalf of Copper Canyon Press, www​ .­coppercanyonpress​.­org.

Ingeborg Bachmann, Werke, Bd. 1. Gedichte © 1978 ­Piper Verlag GmbH, München; “Alle Tage” / “­Every Day.” Translated from the original German by Michael Hamburger, Modern German Poetry 1910–1960 (London: Macgibbon & Kee, 1962). Reprinted by permission of publisher and Michael Hamburger Trust.

Agrippa D’Aubigné, “Les Tragiques” / “The Tragics.” From Book 5, “Les Fers” / “The Swords.” Les Tragiques, vol. 1, ed. Jean-­Raymond Fanlo. Paris: Honoré Champion, 1995. Modernized spelling of the original French and unpublished En­glish translation by François Cornilliat. Reprinted by permission of editor and translator.

Mario Benedetti, “Todos conspiramos” / “We All Conspire.” Translated from the original Spanish by Sophie Cabot Black and Maria Negroni, Twentieth-­Century Latin American Poetry: A Bilingual Anthology, ed. Stephen Tapscott (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996). © Fundación Mario Benedetti, c/o Schavelzon Graham Agencia Literaria, www​ .­schavelzongraham​.­com. Reprinted by permission of Fundación Mario Benedetti and translators.

Marceline Desbordes-­Valmore, “A ­Woman’s Letter.” Unpublished translation from the original French by Mary Shaw and François Cornilliat. Reprinted by permission of translators.

Ana Blandiana, “Stelă.” In Patria Mea A4 (Bucharest: Humanitas, 2010). Reprinted by permission of author; My Native Land A4, translated by Viorica Patea and Paul Scott Derrick, (Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe Books, 2014). Reproduced with permission of Bloodaxe Books. www​ .­bloodaxebooks​.­com. Luis Cernuda, “Impresión de destierro” / “Impression of Exile.” Eleanor L. Turnbull, ed. Con­temporary Spanish Poetry: Se­lections from Ten Poets (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1945). © 1945 Francis T. Kidder. Reprinted with permission of Johns Hopkins University Press; “Impresión de destierro” (from the book La Realidad y el Deseo, section VII: Las Nubes) © Herederos de Luis Cernuda. Reprinted by permission of estate of Luis Cernuda. Kyriakos Charalambides, “Άρδανα ΙΙ.” Μεθιστορία (Metahistory) (Agra, 1995). “Ardana II.” Translated from the original Cypriot Greek by Antonis K. Petrides. Reprinted by permission of author and translator. Boey Kim Cheng, “The Planners” / “Les Planificateurs.” Songs of Ourselves. Vol. 1: Cambridge Assessment International Education Anthology of Poetry in En­glish (Cambridge: Cambridge International Examinations, 2018). Unpublished French translation by Faith Hoatson. Reprinted by permission of author and translator.

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Nicolae Coande, “Un Pașaport Colectiv” / “A Collective Passport.” Translated from the original Romanian and edited by Martin Woodside, Of Gentle Wolves: An Anthology of Romanian Poetry (Houston: Calypso Editions, 2011). Reprinted by permission of Calypso Editions.

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Mahmoud Darwish, “‫ ” السروة اذکسرت‬/ “The Cypress Broke” from The Butterfly’s Burden, translated by Fady Joudah. Copyright © 2007 by Mahmoud Darwish. Translation copyright © 2007 by Fady Joudah. Reprinted with the permission of Riad El-­Rayyes Books and The Permissions

Saroop Dhruv, “હ:ુ ં કવિ -­છું તૈયાર?” / “I: A Poet -­Am Ready?” Original Gujarati poem and En­glish translation by the author with input from Gaurang Mehta, Poetry International Web, Samvedan Sanskritic Manch, 1995. Reprinted by permission of author. Marie Josephine Diamond, “The Sewing ­Table” / “La ­Table de Couture.” Unpublished poem. Reprinted with permission of Sarah Diamond. Unpublished French translation by Mary Shaw and François Cornilliat. Reprinted by permission of translators. Emily Dickinson, “I Had No Time to Hate” / “Je n’ai pas eu le temps d’haïr.” In Poems, ed. Mabel Loomis Todd and T. W. Higginson (Boston: Roberts ­Brothers, 1890). Unpublished French translation by Mary Shaw and François Cornilliat. Reprinted by permission of translators. Arik Einstein, “‫עוף גזול‬.” Shironet, © Arik Einstein and ACUM; “Uf Gozal” / “Fly Away Young Chick.” Translated from the original Hebrew by Chana Shuvaly. Hebrew Songs: Your Online Library of Hebrew Songs. Reprinted by permission of ACUM and the translators. Odysseas Elytis, “Ἕνα τὸ χελιδόνι.” ΤΟ ΑΞΙΟΝ ΕΣΤΙ (Ikaros, 1999), © Ioulita Iliopoulou. Reprinted with permission; “A Solitary Swallow.” Translated from the original Greek by Jeffrey Carson and Nikos Sarris, The Collected Poems of Odysseus Elytis (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004). Reprinted with permission of Copyright Clearance Center. Virág Erdős, “Bedekker” / “Baedekker.” Translated from the original Hungarian by Dániel Dányi, Babel Web Anthology, Babel Matrix. Reprinted by permission of author and translator. Miguel Hernández, “Nanas de la cebolla” / “Lullabies of the Onion.” Translated from the original Spanish by Philip Levine, The Selected Poems of Miguel Hernández, ed. Ted Genoways (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001). Reprinted by permission of literary executor. Nâzim Hikmet, “Yasamaya Dair.” 1947. © Nazim Hikmet Estate, First written February, 1948; “On Living” (part II),

Maria Teresa Horta, “Passion” / “Paixão.” Translated from the original Portuguese by Ana Hudson, Poems from the Portuguese: 21st ­Century Poetry (Centro Nacional de Cultura, 2011). Reprinted by permission of author and translator. Rashid Hussein, “With the Land.” Translated from the original Arabic by Sinan Antoon. Jadaliyya, “Two Poems by Rashid Hussein.” Reproduced by permission of Managing Editor. Juvenal, Satire X, excerpt (lines 56–81). Translated from the original Latin by A. S. Kline, Copyright 2001. Reprinted by permission of translator. Omar Khayyam, Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (excerpt), ed. Edward Fitzgerald (Tehran: Jeihoon, 2009). Unpublished translation of this ruba’i (quatrain) from the original Persian by Maryam Borjian. Reprinted by permission of translator.

Kim Hyesoon, “붉은 가위 여자” / “Red Scissors ­Woman.” Translated from the original Korean by Don Mee Choi, All the Garbage of the World, Unite! (Notre Dame, IN: Action Books, 2011). Reprinted by permission of author and Action Books. Abdellatif Laâbi, “Quatre ans” / “Four Years.” Translated from the original French by Donald Nicholson-­Smith, In Praise of Defeat: Poems by Abdellatif Laâbi (New York: Archipelago Books, 2016). Reprinted by permission of publisher. Li Qingzhao, “Tune: ‘A Dream Song’: A Reminiscence.” Translated from the original Chinese by Jiaosheng Wang, “The Complete Ci-­poems of Li Qingzhao: A New En­glish Translation,” Sino-­Platonic Papers (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1989). Reprinted by permission of editor-­in-­chief. Liu Xiaobo, “梵高与你— ­— ­给小霞.” http://­w ww​.­liu​-­xiaobo​ .­org​/­blog​/­a rchives​/­18360, 1997; “Van Gogh and You.” Translated from the original Chinese by A. E. Clark, No Enemies, No Hatred: Selected Essays and Poems, ed. Perry Link, Tienchi Martin-­Liao, and Liu Xia (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2012). Copyright © 2012 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Reprinted by permission of agent and publisher. Alamin Mazrui, “Kizuizini.” Poetry Translation Centre, Courtesy of Alamin Mazrui, “In Prison.” This translation was made at the Poetry Translation Center’s Poetry Translation Workshop with the translator Katriina Ranne. Reprinted by permission of Poetry Translation Centre. Nadeema Musthan, “Untitled,” “Ndikule ndawo ndikuyo” / “I Have Occupied the Space.” Translated from En­glish into

Xhosa by Xolisa Guzula, Publica[c]tion (Johannesburg: Publica[c]tion Collective, 2017). Reprinted by permission of author and translator. Pablo Neruda, “Alturas de Macchu Picchu” and “Elección en Chimbarongo.” from Canto General, © Pablo Neruda 1950, and Fundación Pablo Neruda. Reprinted by permission of Agencia Literaria Carmen Balcells. “Election in Chimborongo.” Translated from the original Spanish by Jack Schmitt, Canto General (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000). Reprinted by permission of Copyright Clearance Center. From the Heights of Macchu Picchu. Translated from the original Spanish by Nathaniel Tarn. Published by Vintage, Reprinted by permission of The Random House Group ­Limited © 1965. Nirmala Kondepudi, “ఈ సంప్రదాయం మాకొద్దు.” / “We D ­ on’t Want This Tradition.” Translated by N. S. Murty. Reprinted by permission of author and translator. Denrele Adetimikan Ọbasa, “Aláṣejù” / “One Who Acts in Excess.” Originally translated from Yoruba into En­glish by Akintunde Akinyẹmi, published in Africa 87, no. 1 (2017). Reprinted by permission of Copyright Clearance Center and translator. Ovid, Metamorphoses. Book X, Translated from the original Latin by A. S. Kline. Copyright 2000. Reprinted by permission of translator. Konstantin Pavlov, “Capriccio for Goya.” Translated from the original Bulgarian by Ludmilla G. Popova-­Wightman, Cry of a Former Dog (Prince­ton: Ivy Press, 2000). Reprinted by permission of translator. Fernando Pessoa [Alberto Caeiro], “XXXII. Ontem à tarde um homem das cidades” / “XXXII. Yesterday After­noon a City Man.” Translated from the original Portuguese by Edwin Honig and Susan M. Brown, The Keeper of Sheep (O Guardador de Rebanhos) (Bronx, NY: Sheep Meadow Press, 1997). Reprinted by permission of Sheep Meadow Press. Qiu Jin, “The Man of Qi Fears Heaven’s Collapse.” Translated from the original Chinese by Chia-­Lin Pao Tao with minor edits by Joan Judge and Hu Ying, Beyond Exemplar Tales: ­Women Biography in Chinese History, ed. Joan Judge and Hu Ying (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011). Reprinted by permission of translator. Miklós Radnóti, Összegyűjtött versek. Szöveggondozás, utószó, jegyzetek Ferencz Győző (Budapest: Magvető Könyvkiadó, 2016); “Razglednicas.” Translated from the original Hungarian by Zsuzsanna Ozsváth and Frederick Turner. Foamy Sky: The Major Poems of Miklós Radnóti (Prince­ ton, NJ: Prince­ton University Press, 1992). Reprinted by permission of literary executor and translators.

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The Ecco Anthology of International Poetry. Translated from the original Turkish by Deniz Perin, Ikya Kaminsky, and Susan Harris (New York: HarperCollins, 2010), 126. Reprinted by permission of heir and translator.

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Shamsur Rahman, “�াধীনতা তুমি” / “Shadhinota Tumi.” কবিতার খাতা (Poetry Book). “Oh Freedom.” Translated from the original Bangla by Md. Ziaul Haque, a poet, writer, and assistant professor of En­glish at the University of Creative Technology, Chittagong, Bangladesh, Bangalore Review 8, no. 6 (November 2020). Reprinted by permission of publisher and translator. Rainer Maria Rilke, “The Beggar’s Song.” From The Essential Rilke by Galway Kinnell and Hannah Liebmann. Translation copyright (c) 1999 by Galway Kinnell and Hannah Liebmann. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Saniya Salih, “‫ ”عالجوا عبوديّتكم بالصبر‬/ “Cure Your Slavery with Patience.” Translated from the original Arabic by Marilyn Hacker. ArabLit Quarterly, 30 June 2017. Reprinted by permission of editor-­in-­chief. Sappho, “Fragment 94.” Translated from the original Ancient Greek by Diane J. Rayor, Homo­sexuality in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook of Basic Documents in Translation, ed. Thomas K. Hubbard (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003). Reprinted by permission of Copyright Clearance Center. Jaroslav Seifert, “Moskva.” Slavík zpívá špatně (Odeon, 1926) . © Jaroslav Seifert—­heirs c/o DILIA, 1926; “Moscow.” Translated from the original Czech by Ewald Osers, The Poetry of Jaroslav Seifert, edited and with prose translations by George Gibian (North Haven, CT: Catbird Press, 1998). Reprinted by permission of publisher. Ribka Sibhatu, “La mia Abebà.” Poetry Translation Centre. “My Abebà.” This translation was made at the Poetry Translation Centre’s Poetry Translation Workshop with the translator André Naffis-­Sahley. Reprinted by permission of author and Poetry Translation Centre. Georgios Souris, “Ὁ Ῥωμηός” / “The Greek.” Unpublished translation from the original Modern Greek by Konstantina Damvakaris. Reprinted by permission of translator.

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Srirangam Srinivasarao (Sri Sri), “Desa Caritralu” / “Histories of the Nations,” lines 1–20, in Mahaprasthanam / The ­Great Journey (Vijaywada: Visalaandhra Publishing House, 1981). Unpublished translation from the original

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Telugu by Swathi Gorle, doctoral student in Art History and Cultural Heritage and Preservation Studies. Reprinted by permission of publisher and translator. August Stramm, “Battlefield.” Translated from the original German by Michael Hamburger, The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry, ed. Job Silkin (New York: Penguin, 1996). Reprinted by permission of Michael Hamburger Trust. Su Shi, “Mid-­Autumn Moon.” Translated from the original Chinese and edited by Lin Yutang, The Gay Genius: The Life and Times of Su Tungpo (John Day Com­pany, 1947). Reproduced with permission of Curtis Brown Group Ltd, London on behalf of the Estate of Lin Yutang. Copyright © Lin Yutang 1947. Wisława Szymborska, “Jacyś Ludzie” / “Some ­People.” Translated from the original Polish by Clare Cavanagh and Stanisław Barańczak, Chwila / Moment (Wydawnictwo Znak, 2003). Copyright © for translation of “Jacyś ludzie” by Clare Cavanagh and Stanisław Barańczak. “This Translation is published by arrangement with Społeczny Instytut Wydawniczy Znak Sp. z o.o., Kraków, Poland.” Reprinted by the permission of ZNAK and Fundacja Wislawy Szymborskiej. Shaul Tchernichovsky, “­There Is a Land, They Say” (1929 version). Unpublished translation from the original Hebrew by Reg Lee Sekkotin. Reprinted by permission of translator. Vahan Tekeyan, / “Constantinople.” Unpublished translation from the original Armenian by Jennifer Manoukian and Daniel Ohanian. Reprinted by permission of translators. José Moreno Villa, “Anguish.” Eleanor L. Turnbull, ed. Con­temporary Spanish Poetry: Se­lections from Ten Poets (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1945). © 1945 Francis T. Kidder. Reprinted with permission of Johns Hopkins University Press. Sage Vyasa, “Bhagavad Gita,” Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, excerpts. Translated from the original Sans­k rit by H. D. Goswami, A Comprehensive Guide to BHAGAVAD-­GITA with Literal Translation (Chapel Hill, NC: Krishna West, 2015). Reprinted by permission of Krishna West Inc.

Atif Akin is an artist living in New York and associate professor of art and design at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. His work is about technoscientific criticism in the context of con­temporary art, science, and politics. Integrating technology as both subject and means of expression, he explores issues that are considered sensitive in the public discourse, unlocking them from the rigid po­liti­cal categories in which they reside. Since the beginning of his practice, he has been interested in manifestations of bound­aries—­physical, meta­phorical, linguistic—­that exist around science, nature, and politics. By looking at scientific and po­liti­cal phenomena, he extracts and creates meaning in a visual context, with broad po­liti­cal and scientific significance. His works appear as museum, gallery, or public space installations and in screen-­based and printed publication formats, including online works. He was the recipient of the 2015 apexart Franchise Program award in New York and the or­ga­nizer of the zine proj­ect and exhibition Apricots from Damascus, on behalf of apexart, and coproduced and hosted by SALT in İstanbul. In 2016, he took part in the public programming of Olafur Eliasson’s Greenlight Proj­ect, hosted by TBA 21 in Vienna. Most recently, his work was on display at the Center for Con­temporary Arts in Singapore, Le Fresnoy Museum in France, and the Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm, Sweden, and SUNY Binghamton galleries in New York. He studied science and design at a public university in Turkey, M ­ iddle East Technical University in Ankara, and worked in Istanbul as an artist and educator before moving to New York in 2011. François Cornilliat is distinguished professor of French at Rutgers University–­New Brunswick, and a specialist of French Re­nais­sance (fifteenth-­ and sixteenth-­century) poetry. His research focuses on

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the relations of poetry and rhe­toric across a variety of genres and forms, from verse to prose and from history to fiction. His publications in this field include a study of verbal ornaments in late fifteenth-­century court writing (“Or ne mens,” Couleurs de l’Éloge et du Blâme chez les “­Grands Rhétoriqueurs,” 1994; Prix Monseigneur Marcel, 1995) and one of the status of subject ­matter in Re­nais­sance poems more generally (Sujet caduc, noble sujet, La poésie de la Re­nais­sance et le choix de ses “arguments,” 2009). He is currently finishing, in collaboration with historian Laurent Vissière, a critical edition of Jean Bouchet’s Panegyric du Chevalier sans reproche (1527), a didactic biography of a Re­nais­sance military commander, written in part in the ornate style of the “rhétoriqueur” tradition. He has also published four collections of poetry (No won­der, 1995; Grotesques, 2001, Crédule, 2008; Envers toi, 2016). At Rutgers, he has been involved in efforts to shore up—­both develop and celebrate—­the academic and social presence of languages other than En­glish across the university. Ouafaa Deleger is a fifth-­year PhD candidate and currently a doctoral fellow in the French Department at Rutgers University. She came to Rutgers in 2016 with a background in po­liti­cal science, her master’s dissertation focused on the emancipation of Muslim ­women in Muslim countries. She has shifted to the study of twentieth-­and twenty-­first-­century French lit­er­a­ture and more specifically francophone graphic novels. Her dissertation focuses on the problematic of repre­sen­ta­tion and timelessness, as well as the relation between fiction and real­ity. Her broader academic interests include fictional repre­sen­ta­tions of the fluctuating borders, identities, and cultures in the twenty-­ first ­century novels, the intersections between art and lit­er­a­ture, and theories of exile and space. She also published “A Dystopia in the Ser­vice of Fluctuating Frontiers: Sansal Boualem’s 2084 the End of the World” in Romance eReview (2019).

Notes on Contributors

Jenevieve DeLosSantos is associate teaching professor of art history and director of special pedagogic proj­ects in the Office of Undergraduate Education for the School of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University–­New Brunswick, New Jersey. Her research focuses on the scholarship of teaching and learning in art history and explores topics related to trauma-­informed pedagogy and equitable, inclusive teaching practices in the art history classroom. She is currently a guest editor and author for the series “Hard Lessons: Trauma, Teaching, Art History” for Art Journal Open. Her other scholarly interests include nineteenth-­century American Orientalism and more broadly race and imperialism in nineteenth-­century visual culture. At Rutgers she holds a dual role, teaching art history and serving as a member of the Teaching and Learning Team where she hosts the programs “Tea and Teaching with Jenevieve” and “Voices of Diversity: Rutgers Student Stories” for faculty audiences. She also manages the Interdisciplinary Research Teams—­a program that helped to support this book proj­ect in its earliest stages.

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Ian  C. Lovoulos is a gradu­ate of the Rutgers SAS Honors Program class of 2019. He majored in po­liti­cal science and minored in economics, French, and Greek modern studies. He graduated summa cum laude, and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Pi Sigma Alpha, and Phi Sigma Iota. He was also a member of the Lloyd C. Gardner Fellowship Program. During that time, he presented his work to the Gardner Policy Conference on what

explains Greece’s attempts, in its po­liti­cal history, to pursue closer ties with Rus­sia. He also completed an interdisciplinary honors thesis and presented it to the Honors Thesis Conference on what explains state decision making, of Greece and Turkey, ­toward natu­ral gas pipelines. He was awarded SAS Honors Scholar. He is currently a master’s student at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies studying international relations and international economics. Devon Monaghan graduated with her BFA from Rutgers University in the spring of 2018. She is now working ­toward her master’s degree in user experience design as a part-­ time gradu­ate student, while working full-­time at Virtua Health as a digital designer. Her design mindset is that “nothing is ever perfect; t­ hings must always be a work in pro­ gress since a user’s (in this case viewer’s) perspective and needs are ever changing.” She views empathy as being an impor­tant aspect in every­thing we do as ­people. She plans to use her master’s degree to connect ­people to experience in a meaningful and thoughtful way for her ­future endeavors, ­whether it be through spatial, products, or digital.

Notes on Contributors

Mary Shaw is a poet and a professor of French lit­er­a­ture at Rutgers University–­New Brunswick. She was born in Mexico and in early childhood moved to Tucson, Arizona, where she devoted much of her time to dance u ­ ntil she dropped out of school at age sixteen and went to work in France. She eventually resumed her studies, earning her doctorate in French at Columbia University. Along with authoring such critical books as Per­for­mance in the Texts of Mallarmé (1993) and The Cambridge Introduction to French Poetry (2003) and coediting other books (The Spirit of Montmartre: Cabarets, Humor and the Avant-­ Garde 1875–1905, with Philip Dennis Cate, 1999; Vis­i­ble Writings, Cultures, Forms, Readings, with Marija Dalbello, 2011), she has edited and translated Entangled–­Papers!–­Notes, a bilingual volume of poetry by Claude Mouchard (2017). The work on Mouchard was seminal to her conception of the 2017 Poetries –­Politics conference and exhibition. She has also published two bilingual ­children’s books (Pierre and Sophia, 2000; Max, A Griggstown Mystery, 2004), and a collection of poems, ­Album without Pictures (2008). Se­lections of her fictional and poetic texts have appeared in En­glish in the journals Transitions, Hyperion: The ­Future of Aesthetics, and The Romanic Review; o ­ thers w ­ ere printed in French translations in Po&sie (France), Dalhousie French Studies (Canada), and Versants (Switzerland). A new collection of her poems, titled Rhymes, is set to appear in 2021.

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INDEX

Page numbers in italics represent images. 2–3; link with community, 2; translating poetry into visual art, 49–56 Asian languages, 33. See also specific Asian language Ayash, Aviv (translator), 20, 152, 153 Bachchan, Harivansh Rai (“Agneepath”), 7, 234, 235 Bachmann, Ingeborg (“­Every Day”), 20, 102, 103 Bahgat, Jannah (contributor), 202, 203 Bamgbose, Gabriel (student-­curator): “I Have Occupied the Space” (Musthan), 170, 171, 172; “In Prison” (Mazrui), 168, 169; “One Who Acts in Excess” (Ọbasa), 180, 181, 182; “Recollection” (Yusuf), 22, 236, 237 Bangla language: “Oh Freedom” (Rahman), 196, 197, 198 Baudelaire, Charles, 53 Beegan, Gerry (contributor), 46 Benedetti, Mario (“We All Conspire”), 104, 105 Benkirane, Mohamed (contributor), 152, 153 Bisbal, Paula (contributor), 146 Biswas, Mohana (contributor), 198 Blandiana, Ana (“Stele”), 106, 107 Bloch, Howard, 24 Bojanowska, Edyta (contributor), 26n5 Boss, Suzie, 75, 80

Index

African languages, 22, 33, 37n40. See also specific African language Akhmatova, Anna (“Every­thing is Plundered, Betrayed, Sold”), 6, 57–60, 62–63, 88, 89 Akin, Atif: graphic arts professor, 2, 4–5, 7n1, 65, 71, 75, 85; poster proj­ect development partner, 17–18, 71; sample “poster poem,” 19, 22, 23, 35n5 ; “Some ­People” (Szymborska), 218, 219 Alcaeus (“Fragment 130b”), 90, 91 al-­Malaika, Nazik (“Cholera”), 43, 44, 92, 93 Al-­Shabbi, Abu Al-­Qasim (“The ­Will of Life”), 35n13, 39–­41, 94, 95 Alterman, Natan (“The Silver Platter”), 36, 96, 97 Angelou, Ma­ya (“Still I Rise”), 22, 36n24, 39, 65, 66, 67, 98, 99, 100 Arabic language: “Cholera” (al-­Malaika), 43, 44, 92, 93; “Cure Your Slavery with Patience” (Salih), 202, 203; “The Cypress Broke” (Darwish), 118, 119; poetic themes, 19–20; represented in Poetries—­Politics, 33, 36, 52; “The ­Will of Life” (Al-­ Shabbi), 35n13, 41, 94, 95; “With the Land” (Hussein), 39, 152, 153 Armenian language: “Constantinople” (Tekeyan), 33, 36, 57, 222, 223 art: impact on history and culture, 3; interconnectedness with poetry,

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Brenes, Yerlin (contributor), 144, 145, 146 Bulgarian language: “Capriccio for Goya” (Pavlov), 186, 187 Burston, Emma (contributor), 122, 123 Buttitta, Ignazio (“Language and Dialect”), xvi, 1, 22, 36n17, 108, 109, 110 Caeiro, Alberto. See Pessoa, Fernando, 22, 189, 190 Cantonese language, 34 Ca­rib­bean languages, 34 Casas, Brianna (Interdisciplinary Research Team Student), 79, 152, 153 Cendrars, Blaise, 24 Cernuda, Luis (“Impression of Exile”), 35n15, 43, 46, 47, 112, 113 Charalambides, Kyriakos (“Ardana II”), 36n22, 114, 115 Chinese language: “Groundless Fear” (Qiu Jin), 19, 156, 157; “Mid-­ Autumn Moon” (Su Shi), 19, 42, 208, 209; poetic themes, 19; represented in Poetries—­Politics, 33, 35n9; “Tune: ‘A Dream Song’ A Reminiscence” (Li Qingzhao), 19, 192, 193; “Van Gogh and You” (Liu Xiaobo), 232, 233 Coande, Nicolae (“A Collective Passport”), 36n31, 116, 117 copyright, 78, 80n12 Cornilliat, François, 5, 27–37, 120–122, 126, 127, 128 Creole language, 33, 34, 36n37 Cretan rebellion (Greece), 60, 62 Cypriot Greek language. See Greek language, modern Czech language: “Moscow” (Seifert), 206, 207

Index

Damvakaris, Konstantina (translator and contributor), 57, 60, 61, 64, 212, 213 Darwish, Mahmoud (“The Cypress Broke”), 118, 119 D’Aubigné, Agrippa (“The Tragics”), 20, 35n14, 120, 121 Delaunay, Sonia, 24, 25 Deleger, Ouafaa (student-­curator), 6; “Four Years” (Laâbi), 50, 51, 52–53, 166, 167; “The Planners”

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(Boey Kim Cheng), 162, 163; “With the Land” (Hussein), 152, 153; “A ­Woman’s Letter” (Desbordes-­ Valmore), 122, 123 DeLosSantos, Jenevieve, 16, 20 Der Struwwelpeter (German ­children’s book), 43 Desbordes-­Valmore, Marceline (“A ­Woman’s Letter”), 122, 123 Dewey, John, 71, 80n3 Dexter, Corinne (contributor), 104, 105 Dhruv, Saroop (“I: A Poet—­A m Ready?”), 22, 124, 125 Diamond, Marie Josephine (“The Sewing ­Table”), 126, 127 Dickinson, Emily (“I Had No Time to Hate”), 13, 14, 15, 128, 129 Dix, Otto, 42–43, 216 Downing, Paris (contributor), 118, 119, 150, 151, 210, 211 Du, Fang (contributor), 19, 232, 233 Einstein, Arik (“Fly Away Young Chick”), 130, 131 Elytis, Odysseas (“A Solitary Swallow”), 132, 133 En­glish, x, xi, 1, 2, 5, 13, 15, 20, 22, 26n4, 27, 33–34, 36–37, 42, 52, 62, 79 En­glish language: “I Had No Time to Hate” (Dickinson), 13, 14, 15, 128, 129; “The Planners” (Kim Cheng), 162, 163; “The Sewing ­Table” (Diamond), 126, 127; “Still I Rise” (Angelou), 22, 36n24, 39, 65, 66, 67, 98, 99, 100; “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” (Whitman), 230, 231 Entangled -­ Papers!—­Notes (Shaw), 16 Erdős, Virág (“Baedeker”), 134, 135, 136 Euripides (“Medea”), 138, 139, 140 exile, theme in poetry, 22, 43 Ezzo, Emily (contributor), 138, 139, 140, 204, 205 fair use, doctrine, 78, 80n12 Farrell, Ryan (student-­designer): “Cure Your Slavery with Patience” (Salih), 202, 203; “Every­ thing Is Plundered, Betrayed, Sold” (Akhmatova), 58, 59–60, 88, 89; “Medea” (Euripides), 138, 139, 140; “One Who Acts in Excess” (Ọbasa), 180, 181, 182; “Passion”

(Horta), 150, 151; “When it happens,” 20, 21, 39, 228, 229 Filipino language. See Tagalog/Filipino language Fitzner, Jessica (student-­curator): “Battlefield” (Stramm), 42–43, 216, 217; “The Beggar’s Song” (Rilke), 200, 201; “­Every Day” (Bachmann), 102, 103; “Warning.” (Heine), 43, 45, 142, 143 Fowler, Ashley (Interdisciplinary Research Team Student), 79, 152, 153 French language: “Four Years” (Laâbi), 166, 167; “I Had No Time to Hate” (Dickinson), 128, 129; “The Planners” (Boey Kim Cheng), 162, 163; represented in Poetries—­ Politics, 33; “The Sewing ­Table” (Diamond), 126, 127; “Still I Rise” (Angelou), 98, 99, 100; “The Tragics” (D’Aubigné), 120, 121; “A ­Woman’s Letter” (Desbordes-­ Valmore), 122, 123; “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” (Whitman), 230, 231 Georgian language, 34 German language: “Battlefield” (Stramm), 42, 216, 217; “The Beggar’s Song” (Rilke), 200, 201; “­Every Day” (Bachmann), 102, 103; poetic themes, 20; represented in Poetries—­Politics, 34; “Warning.” (Heine), 43, 45, 142, 143 Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 43 Gomes, Brandon (contributor), 188, 189, 190 Goya, Francisco de, 43 ­Great War, 42–43 Greece: Cretan rebellion, 60, 62; foreign intervention, 62–63; War for In­de­pen­dence, 62, 63 Greek language, ancient Greek: 22, 34, 90, 91, 138, 139, 140, 204, 205; “Alcaeus–­Fragment 130b” (Alcaeus), 90–­91; “Medea” (Euripides), 138–140; “Sappho’s Confession” ( Sappho), 22, 49, 67–­68, 204–­205 Greek language, Cypriot Greek: “Ardana II” (Charlambides), 36n22, 114–­115

Haitian Creole language, 34 Hanshe, Rainer J., 24n1 Haroun, Rawan (student-­designer): “Ardana II” (Charalambides), 114, 115; “A Collective Passport” (Coande), 116, 117; “The Cypress Broke” (Darwish), 118, 119; “The Heights of Macchu Picchu, XII” (Neruda), 22, 176, 177, 178; “My Abebà” (Sibhatu), 22, 210, 211; “Recollection” (Yusuf), 22, 236, 237; “The ­Will of Life” (Al-­Shabbi), 39, 40, 41, 94, 95 Hassan II, King, 50 Hebrew language, 20, 33; “Fly Away Young Chick” (Einstein), 130, 131; “The Silver Platter” (Alterman), 36n23, 96, 97; “­There Is a Land, They Say” (Tchernichovsky), 36n23, 220, 221; “With the Land” (Hussein), 152, 153 Heine, Heinrich (“Warning.”), 43, 45, 142, 143 Hernández, Miguel (“Lullabies of the Onion”), 144, 145, 146 Hikmet, Nâzim (“On Living”), 28, 31, 35n13, 148, 149 Hindi language: “Agneepath” (Bachchan), 7, 33, 234, 235 Hoatson, Faith (student-­curator), 98, 99, 100, 128, 129, 162, 163, 230, 231 Horta, Maria Teresa (“Passion”), 150, 151 Hungarian language, 34; “Baedeker” (Erdős), 134, 135, 136; “Razglendicas” (Radnóti), 20, 194, 195 Hussein, Rashid (“With the Land”), 19–20, 36n23, 67, 69, 79, 152, 153 Hyesoon, Kim (“Red Scissors ­Woman”), 154, 155 identity politics, theme in poetry, 22 image. See art indigenous American languages, 33 Indonesian language. See Malay/ Indonesian language

Israeli poems, 20, 34, 96, 97 Italian language: “My Abebà” (Sibhatu), 22, 33, 36n18, 210, 211 Japa­nese language: “When It Happens, I Will Be Afraid” (Unknown), 20, 21, 26n4, 33, 34, 39, 228, 229 Jin, Qiu (“Groundless fear”), 19, 35n9, 156, 157 Juvenal (“Satire X”), 158, 159 Kafas, Emily (contributor), 114, 115 Kapampangan language, 34 Kaplan, Elizabeth Lazarre (contributor), 17 Kelly, Ellsworth, 7n1, 19, 43 Kershenbaum, Jenna (student-­ curator): “Fly Away Young Chick” (Einstein), 130, 131; “The Silver Platter” (Alterman), 96, 97; “­There Is a Land, They Say” (Tchernichovsky), 220, 221; “With the Land” (Hussein), 20, 152, 153 Khan, Nisha (Interdisciplinary Research Team Student), 79, 152, 153 Khavandi, Mina (contributor), 53, 55–56 Khayyam, Omar (“Rubayi”), 6, 49, 53, 54, 55, 56n6, 160, 161 Kikuyu language, 34 Kim Cheng, Boey (“The Planners”), 162, 163 Kommireddi, Shivani (contributor), 184, 185 Kondepudi, Nirmala (“We ­Don’t Want This Tradition”), 28, 30, 35n11, 164, 165 Korean language: “Red Scissors ­Woman” (Hyesoon), 33, 154, 155 Korth, Bryan (contributor), 104, 105 Krauss, Jane, 75, 79–80 Kuchi, Triveni (contributor), 164, 165 Kuribayashi, Ingrid (student-­curator): “Groundless Fear” (Qiu Jin), 20, 156, 157; “Language and Dialect” (Buttitta), 109, 110; “My Abebá” (Sibhatu), 210, 211; “Red Scissors ­Woman” (Hyesoon) 154, 155; “When It Happens, I Will Be Afraid,” 228, 229 Laâbi, Abdellatif (“Four Years”), 49, 50, 51, 52–53, 55, 166, 167

language: ancestral language, 32; as “action” in poetry, 49; colonial language, 32; dialect, 32; editing poems for grammatical correctness, 67; featured in Poetries—­ Politics, 3, 19–24, 27–35; impact on history and culture, 3; loss of, 1–2; marginalized voice, 32; national identity, 32, 36n34; poems in original language, 15; poems translated into En­glish and French, 15; Poetries—­Politics choices, 32; politics of, 28; reflection of student diversity, 18, 27, 34–35, 39; student language skill, 78–79; study of, 27; symbolic role, 32. See also specific language Latin language, ix, 34, 35n1; “Metamorphoses” (Ovid), 184, 185; “Satire X” (Juvenal), 158, 159 Lawrence, Susan, 7, 17 Lee, Sam (contributor), 154, 155 Leonardo da Vinci, 49 Lessovitz, Danielle, 46 Lisci, Elena (Interdisciplinary Research Team Students), 79, 152, 153 Lovoulos, Ian C. (student-­curator): “Ardana II” (Charalambides), 114, 115; “Constantinople” (Tekeyan), 222, 223; “­Every Day” (Bachmann), 102, 103; “The Greek” (Souris), 212, 213; “On Living” (Hikmet), 148, 149; Shaw’s mentee, 17; “A Solitary Swallow” (Elytis), 132, 133 Magano, Thato (contributor), 170, 171, 172 Mahabharata’s Bhagavad Gita, 20 Malay/Indonesian language, 33 Mallarmé, Stéphane, 24 Manoukian, Jennifer (contributor and translator), 222, 223 March, Peter, 7 Mathurin, Marissa (contributor), 104, 105 Mazrui, Alamin (“In Prison”), 168, 169 Mehta, Drashti (contributor), 124, 125 Melikhova, Valentina (student-­ curator): “Every­thing Is Plundered, Betrayed, Sold” (Akhmatova), 57, 63n3, 88, 89 migration, theme in poetry, 22 Index

Greek language, modern, 34, 132, 133; “A Solitary Swallow” (Elytis), 132–­133; “The Greek” (Souris), 57, 60–64, 212, 213 Gujarati language: “I: A Poet—­A m Ready?” (Dhruv), 22, 124, 125 Gumeliev, Nikolay, 59

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Miranda, Kristen (student-­designer): “Histories of the Nations” (Sri Sri), 39, 214, 215; “Lullabies of the Onion” (Hernández), 144, 145, 146; “Moscow” (Seifert), 206, 207; “The Silver Platter” (Alterman), 96, 97; “Stele” (Blandiana), 106, 107; A ­Woman’s Letter” (Desbordes-­ Valmore), 122, 123 Monaghan, Devon (student-­designer); “The Beggar’s Song” (Rilke), 200, 201; “Fragment 130b” (Alcaeus), 90, 91; “Fragment 94” (Sappho), 67, 68, 204, 205; “Groundless Fear” (Qiu Jin), 156, 157; “Language and Dialect” (Buttitta), xvi, 1, 5, 108, 109, 110; “Metamorphoses” (Ovid), 184, 185; “On Living” (Hikmet), 28, 30, 148, 149; “Rubayi” (Khayyam), 54, 55, 160, 161; “Still I Rise” (Angelou), 39, 66, 67, 98, 99, 100; “With the Land” (Hussein), 67, 69, 152, 153 Mongolian language, 33 Mouchard, Claude, 16, 17 Mulligan, Hannah (contributor), 92, 93 Musthan, Nadeema (“I Have Occupied the Space”), 22, 36n21, 170, 171, 172 Nahuatl (classical) language, 33, 35n1 Narvaez, Carlos (contributor), 176, 177, 178 Natarajan, Suchitra (contributor), 102, 103 nature, theme in poetry, 19 Nehra, Niharika (contributor), 234, 235 Neruda, Pablo (“Election in Chimbarongo,” “The Heights of Macchu Picchu”), 22, 33, 36n20, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178

Index

Ọbasa, Denrele Adetimikan (One Who Acts in Excess”), 180, 181, 182 Oceanic languages, 33 One Toss of the Dice: The Incredible Story of How a Poem Made Us Modern (Bloch), 24 On the Map (Kaplan), 17 Orante, Jocelyn (student-­designer): “I Have Occupied the Space” (Musthan), 170, 171, 172; “Mid-­Autumn Moon” (Su Shi), 19, 42, 208, 209; “The Sewing T ­ able” (Diamond),

258

126, 127; “A Solitary Swallow” (Elytis), 132, 133; visual identity system, 42, 42; “We All Conspire” (Benedetti), 104, 105 O Romios (satirical newspaper), 60, 64 Osorio, Ethel M. (student-­curator): “The Heights of Macchu Picchu, XII” (Neruda), 22, 176, 177, 178; “Lullabies of the Onion” (Hernández), 144, 145, 146; “We All Conspire” (Benedetti), 104, 105 Ouhamou, Naima (student-­curator): “Cholera” (al-­Malaika), 43, 44, 92, 93; “Cure Your Slavery with Patience” (Salih), 202, 203; “The Cypress Broke” (Darwish), 118, 119; “The ­Will of Life” (Al-­Shabbi), 94, 95 Ovid (“Metamorphoses”), 184, 185 Palestinian poems, 19–20, 34, 38n23, 152 Patel, Hemani (contributor), 174, 175 Pavlov, Konstantin (“Capriccio for Goya”), 43, 186, 187 Perdomo, Melissa (student-­designer): “Anguish” (Villa), 224, 225; “Bhagavad Gita” (Vyasa), 226, 227; “­Every Day” (Bachmann), 102, 103; “The Greek” (Souris), 42, 60, 61, 62, 212, 213; “Oh Freedom” (Rahman), 196, 197, 198; “Yesterday After­noon a City Man” (Pessoa), 22, 188, 189, 190 Persian language: “Rubayi” (Khayyam), 33, 36n16, 53–56, 160, 161 Pessoa, Fernando (“Yesterday After­ noon a City Man”), 22, 188, 189, 190 Peterman, Kimberly (student-­ curator): “Fragment 94” (Sappho), 67, 68, 204, 205; “Fragment 130b” (Alcaeus), 90, 91; installation view, 12; “Medea” (Euripides), 138, 139, 140; “Metamorphoses” (Ovid), 184, 185; Satire X (Juvenal), 158, 159 Plato, 49 Poetries—­Politics: campus exhibition, 2, 3; cele­bration of unity-­in-­diversity, 18, 46, 71, 72; colloquium, 3, 17–19; crafting project-­based learning course, 70–80; crowdsourced research, 2, 17, 78, 80n13; design brief, 2, 19, 38, 50, 65, 75–76, 77; “galleries” guide, 78;

grading, 78; innovative pedagogical approach, 3, 17, 71–78; installation view, viii, 3, 8, 12, 29, 39, 40, 48; interactive collaboration, 7, 16, 38–48, 50, 67, 70–80; interdisciplinary, multilingual environment, 2, 39; Interdisciplinary Research Teams, 79; key steps in proj­ect, 74–76; logo, 15, 42; multilingual exhibition, 17, 46, 71, 73, 78; oral component, 16; origination of proj­ect, 2, 5–6, 16, 17; pairing text with image, 2–3, 52, 67; permanent installation, 3, 39, 67, 79; poster-­poems, 2, 15, 19, 22, 24; pro­cess films, 3, 46; project-­based learning example, 70–80; reflection of campus diversity, 3, 5; reflection paper, 78; reinstallation view, 4, 8, 9; se­lection of poems and translations, 18, 19, 38; student-­created poster exhibition, 3, 16; student-­ designer perspective, 65–69; student owner­ship and engagement, 3, 19, 32–33; syllabus, 73; transdisciplinary teaching, 70–71; unite diverse community poetically, 18; use of dash in title, 13, 15; video responses, 19; visual identity system, 42, 42; visual interpretation of works, 1–2, 49–56, 65–69; walls of inclusion, 5, 7, 71. See also language; poetry; po­liti­cal poetry poetry: as hospitable, 15; definition of, 50, 80n8; design and poetic meaning, 65; editing for grammatical correctness, 67; liberator of language, 2; link with community, 2–3; interconnectedness with art, 2; language as “action,” 49; play between singularity and plurality, 13, 15, 18; poetic devices, 15 (see also specific device); power of, 2; private/public appreciation, 15–16; relationship between politics and, 13, 16, 49–56; relationship between visual arts and, 49–56; themes, 18–20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 32; visual, 24. See also po­liti­cal poetry Polish language: “Some ­People” (Szymborska), 22, 23, 35, 218, 219

Qingzhao, Li (“Tune: ‘A Dream Song” A Reminiscence”), 19, 192, 193 Radnóti, Miklós (“Razglednicas”), 20, 36n32, 194, 195 Rahman, Shamsur (“Oh Freedom”), 36n25, 196, 197, 198 Reddy, Pratyusha (student-­curator): “Histories of the Nations” (Sri Sri), 214, 215; “Oh Freedom” (Rahman), 196, 197, 198; “We ­Don’t Want This Tradition” (Kondepudi), 164, 165 Reddy, Preeti (contributor), 164, 165 Reddy, Sunhith (student-­designer): “Battlefield” (Stramm), 42–43, 216, 217; “Election in Chimbarongo” (Neruda), 22, 174, 175; “I: A Poet— Am Ready?” (Dhruv), 22, 124, 125; “In Prison” (Mazrui), 168, 169 Reinventing Project-­Based Learning: Your Field Guide to Real-­World Proj­ects in the Digital Age (Boss and Krauss), 75

religion and spirituality, inspirational source, 53 rhymes, 13, 15 Riecker, Lauren (contributor), 104, 105 Rilke, Rainer Maria (“The Beggar’s Song”), 200, 201 Rodriguez, Francisco (student-­ curator): “Anguish” (Villa), 224, 225; “Election in Chimbarongo” (Neruda), 174, 175; “Impression of Exile” (Cernuda), 112, 113; “Passion” (Horta), 150, 151; “Yesterday After­noon a City Man” (Pessoa), 22, 188, 189, 190 Romanian language, 34; “Stele” (Blandiana), 106, 107; “A Collective Passport” (Coande), 36n31, 116, 117 Rus­sian civil war, 57, 59–60 Rus­sian language: “Every­thing Is Plundered, Betrayed, Sold” (Akhmatova), 6, 34, 57–60, 62–63, 88, 89 Rutgers University: Academic Building, 3, 39; Art & Design Department, 38; campus diversity, 3, 27–35, 46, 71, 72; Center of ­Women in the Arts and Humanities, 74; Design Practicum, 38–48, 65–69; Film Lab, 46; language department, 17; language diversity, 27, 34–35, 39; Language Engagement Proj­ect, 5, 37n43; Mason Gross School of the Arts, 2, 18, 38, 43, 71; Mentorship Program, 24n2; School of Arts and Sciences (SAS), 2, 7, 79; School of Communications Information, 74 Rykova, Nadezhda, 59 Salih, Saniya (“Cure Your Slavery with Patience”), 36n28, 202, 203 Sans­k rit language: “Bhagavad Gita” (Vyasa), 226, 227 Sappho (“Sappho’s Confession”), 22, 67, 68, 204, 205 Schrading, Sarah (contributor), 144, 145, 146 Schiau-­Botea, Diana (contributor), 106, 107 Schmitt, Grace (contributor), 200, 201 Schwartz, Marcy (contributor), 104, 105, 144, 145, 146

Schwartz, Marissa (contributor), 104, 105 Scot, Jason (contributor), 130, 131 Seifert, Jaroslav (“Moscow”), 206, 207 Sekkotin, Reg Lee (contributor), 152, 153, 220, 221 Serrano, Richard, 17 Shah, Neil (student-­curator): “Agneepath” (Bachchan), 234, 235; “Bhagavad Gita” (Vyasa), 226, 227; “I: A Poet—­A m Ready?” (Dhruv), 124, 125 Shanghainese language, 34 Shaw, Mary: Entangled -­ Papers!—­Notes, 16; origination of Poetries—­Politics proj­ect, 2, 3, 5, 6, 38, 43, 71, 73; sample “poster poem,” 19, 22, 23; student recruitment, 78–79 Shi, Su, (“Mid-­Autumn Moon”), 19, 42, 208, 209 Siang, Tay Wee (contributor), 162, 163 Sibhatu, Ribka (“My Abebá”), 22, 36n18, 210, 211 Sicilian language: “Language and Dialect” (Buttitta), xvi, 1, 22, 33, 36n17, 108, 109, 110 Sieburth, Richard, 16 Singh, Opinder (student-­designer): “Baedeker” (Erdős), 134, 135, 136; “Cholera” (al-­Malaika), 43, 44, 92, 93; “Fly Away Young Chick” (Einstein), 130, 131; “Metamorphoses” (Ovid), 184, 185; Satire X (Juvenal), 158, 159 Somali language: “Gocasho” (Yusuf), 7, 22, 33, 35n14, 236, 237 Souffles (journal), 50 Souris, Georgios (“The Greek”), 6, 36n33, 42, 57, 60, 61, 62–63, 64n10, 212, 213 South Asian languages, 33. See also specific South Asian language space, interconnectedness, 3, 16, 32, 49, 55 Spanish language: “Anguish” (Villa), 224, 225; “Election in Chimbarongo” (Neruda), 174, 175; “The Heights of Macchu Picchu, XII” (Neruda), 176, 177, 178; “Impression of Exile” (Cernuda), 47, 112, 113; “Lullabies of the Onion” (Hernández), 144, 145, 146; represented in Poetries—­Politics, 33; “We All Conspire” (Benedetti), 104, 105 Index

po­liti­cal poetry: described, 3, 18–19 (see also poetry); in revolutionary socie­ties, 57–64; language component, 32; messages within, 28; Poetries—­Politics choices, 32 po­liti­cal propaganda, 19 politics: concerns over, 17, 38; condition of student body, 27, 38, 71; defined, 53; multilingual exposure as po­liti­cal cause, 27; of language, 28; relationship between poetry and, 13, 16 Portuguese language: “Passion” (Horta), 33, 150, 151; “Yesterday After­noon a City Man” (Pessoa), 22, 33, 188, 189, 190 project-­based learning course, crafting, 70–72: books, 79; connect deliverable to question, 73; define assessment structure/reflection, 76, 78; define question, 72–73; gather resources/tap into community, 73–74; or­ga­nize/develop collaborative system, 75–76; structure, support, scaffolding, 74–75; websites, 79 Prose of the Trans-­siberian and or ­Little Jehanne of France, The (Delaunay), 24, 25 public domain, works in, 78 Punjabi language, 34

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Index

260

Spectrum (Kelly), 43 spirituality. See religion and spirituality, inspirational source, 53 Srirangam Srinivasa Rao. See Sri Sri Sri Sri (“Histories of the Nations”), 28, 35n11, 39, 214, 215 Stramm, August (“Battlefield”), 42, 216, 217 student-­curator, 2, 5–7, 17–20, 22, 32, 36n37, 38–39, 49, 50, 57, 67, 73, 75–76 student-­designer, 5–6, 32, 38–48, 50, 53, 55, 65–69, 71 student filmmaker, 19, 46 ­Sullivan, Nicole (student-­designer): “Red Scissors ­Woman” (Hyesoon), 154, 155; “­There is a Land, They Say” (Tchernichovsky), 220, 221; “Tune: ‘A Dream Song’: A Reminiscence” (Li Qingzhao), 19, 192, 193; “Warning.” (Heine), 43, 45, 142, 143; “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” (Whitman), 230, 231 Swahili language: “In Prison” (Mazrui), 168, 169 Szabó, Veronika (student-­curator): “Baedeker” (Erdős), 134, 135, 136; “A Collective Passport” (Coande), 116, 117; “Razglednicas” (Radnóti), 194, 195; “Stele” (Blandiana), 106, 107 Szymborska, Wisława (“Some ­People”), 22, 23, 35n5, 218, 219

Tekeyan, Vahan (“Constantinople”), 36n30, 222, 223 Telugu language: “Histories of the Nations” (Sri Sri), 35n11, 39, 214, 215; “We ­Don’t Want This Tradition” (Kondepudi), 28, 34, 35n11, 164, 165 Thai language, 33 Thaw, Jacqueline, 46 themes in poetry, 19–20, 21, 22, 23, 24. See also specific language throw of the dice ­will never abolish chance, A (Un coup de dés jamais n’abolira le ­hazard; Mallarmé), 24 Tigrinya language, 33, 36n18 time, interconnectedness, 2, 3, 16, 32, 49, 55, 63 Turkish language: “On Living” (Hikmet), 28, 31, 33, 35n13, 57, 148, 149

Tagalog/Filipino language, 33, 34 Tamil language, 34 Tanriverdi, Görkem (contributor), 148, 149 Tarina, Tudor (contributor), 116, 117 Tchernichovsky, Shaul (“­There Is a Land, They Say”), 36n23, 220, 221

Walrond, Jeremy (contributor), 144, 145, 146 war, theme in poetry, 20, 21, 22, 32, 39, 57–63 Weisser, Jessica (student-­designer): “Agneepath” (Bachchan), 234, 235; “Capriccio for Goya” (Pavlov), 43, 186, 187; “Four Years” (Laâbi), 6,

University of Minnesota, ­Career Readiness core competencies, 72 Van Buskirk, Emily (contributor), 206, 207 Vassilev, Kris (contributor), 43, 186, 187 Viet­nam­ese language, 33, 34 Villa, José Moreno (“Anguish”), 224, 225 Villafañe, Joanne (contributor), 108, 109, 110 Visayan language, 34 visual arts, power of, 2, 16, 49–56 Vyasa, Sage (“Bhagavad Gita”), 20, 226, 227

49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 166, 167; “I Had No Time to Hate” (Dickinson), 4, 14, 15, 128, 129; The Tragics” (D’Aubigné), 120, 121; “Van Gogh and You” (Liu Xiaobo), 19, 232, 233 “When It Happens” (そうなった時、怯 えるだろう), 20, 21, 228, 229 Whitman, Walt (“When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”), 230, 231 ­women poets, 19, 20, 22, 34 World War II, 20, 39 Xhosa language: “I Have Occupied the Space” (Musthan), 22, 32, 36n21, 170, 171, 172 Xiaobo, Liu (“Van Gogh and You”), 19, 35n9, 232, 233 Yiddish language, 28, 33, 35n12 Ying, Tianqi (student-­curator): “Groundless Fear” (Qiu Jin), 19, 156, 157; installation view, viii; “Mid-­Autumn Moon” (Su Shi), 19, 42, 208, 209; “Tune: ‘A Dream Song’ A Reminiscence” (Li Qingzhao), 19, 192, 193; “Van Gogh and You” (Liu Xiaobo), 19, 232, 233 Yoruba language: “One Who Acts in Excess” (Ọbasa), 33, 180, 181, 182 Yusuf, Asha Lul Mohamud (“Recollection”), 22, 35n14, 236, 237 Zhang, Jia Hang (student-­designer): “Constantinople” (Tekeyan), 222, 223; “Impression of Exile” (Cernuda), 43, 46, 47, 112, 113; “The Planners” (Boey Kim Cheng), 162, 163; “Razglednicas” (Radnóti), 194, 195; “We ­Don’t Want This Tradition” (Kondepudi), 28, 29, 164, 165 Zimmerli Art Museum, Jane Voorhees, 22, 24, 74