A Poem

On Thursday we had our first writing group. The assignment was to translate a poem from a language we didn't know into English. I chose Catalan. I took the first paragraph of Kafka's Metamorphosis, and starting with the last word and working my way backwards I wrote each word out in list form. Afterwards, I "translated" each word into an English word that sounded similar. Then I created a poem using my English words in the order that they appeared in the original Catalan (cheating a little):

Quan, un matí, Gregor Samsa va despertar-se d´uns somnis neguitosos, es va trobar al llit transformat en un insecte monstruós. Jeia damunt l´esquena dura, com una cloaca, i, si aixecava una ica el cap, es veia la panxa de color fosc, segmentada per estreps arquejats, com una volta, tan prominent que el cobrellit, a punt de relliscar del tot, amb proa feines
s´aguantava. Les cames, molt nombroses i dolorosament primes en comparació amb la grandària habitual de Samsa,
s´agitaven indefenses davant els sues ulls.

The Metamorphosis

When undone martyr, Gregor Samsa
vain, desperate,
says dunce psalms
negotiations end in vain
trouble ails yet
transforms into an insect
monstrous, jeer-damned.

The skin endures
comes under cluster
eye sees an ice cave under mica
or else ´scapes via land
pants the color of fossil segment per strip
as architect comes under voltage,
tan prominent,
queer eel cove yet appointed.

They relinquish the deal
that and proud feigned sadness,
wanting ever less games
they moult their numerous eyes dull
or owe cement primers in comparison.

And lad,
grandiose, habitual, the Samsa,
sags it.

Even in defense of deviance
else sows else.

Isolation & Belonging

A few weeks ago I met with Justin Donlon, the director of graciaartsproject here in Barcelona. The project is designed to offer a space for artists to communicate and collaborate with other artists and to share their work with the public -- either on the net or in the gallery. I´ve posted both a photography and a writing profile on the site -- http://www.graciaartsproject.com/ -- and I´ve also been given the go-ahead to start a writing group in the gallery space.

I´ve been in Barcelona for almost three years and it has taken me this long to meet enough writers to start a group. In my first two years I knew no writers at all and at times this created a sense of isolation. When I lived in Vancouver I had lots of friends who were artists and there were always opportunities to talk about writing or to be involved in groups. For me, putting down roots in a place requires knowing people who write. Just knowing that I am now involved with a writing group here gives me the strongest feeling of belonging that I have had since arriving.

After posting a few poems on the website I looked at them with new eyes and I felt slightly ashamed. I´d rushed to put them up and hadn´t given them the careful editing that they needed. There are just small errors that bother me, nothing too serious, but I´m glad this has happened because it has made me realize how working in isolation can lead to laziness. What I mean by this is that the longer I remain in solitude, editing my own work, deciding what is good and what is not without the input from an audience, the easier it is to be negligent. If no-one is seeing my poems, then they only need to be good in my eyes, which, taking my ego into account, may not be that hard to achieve. The reason a writing group is so important, then, is because it will make me responsible for every writing choice I make. I may have to explain the reason I indent a line ten spaces or why I choose a particular word or put something in italics etc. These choices will need to be justified and in justifying them I will have to understand them and take responsibility for them. And it is impossible to be lazy when other people are looking at your work and asking you "why?" You have to be prepared and in preparing yourself for their questions you become a better writer.