Archive for March 1st, 2010

Trackspotting

Trackspotting

Choose life.  Choose sports.  Choose a reasonable distance.  Choose a comfortable pair of running shoes.  Choose a singlet, cap, running shorts loose enough to wick away moisture but tight enough to keep you from chafing.  Choose a number.  Choose the dramatic angle by which you cross the finish line.  Choose amber-colored sunglasses to keep the sun from fucking up your vision.  Choose brand placement and advertising on every miserable line of the race course.  Choose marathons, sprints, jogging, off-road trails.  Choose sport pedometers.  Choose Velcro arm-straps for your iPod.  Choose running.  Choose life.

Why would I want to do a thing like that?

March 1, 2010 0 comments Read More
More Translations of Poems

More Translations of Poems

I was aboard the train a few days ago when I saw the familiar verses of Luis de Gongora’s poem translated in Filipino.  Longfellow translated the first lines of “Andeme yo caliente” in this manner:

Let me go warm and merry still;
And let the world laugh, an’ it will.
Let other muse on earthly things,
The fall of thrones, the fate of kings,
And those whose fame the world doth fill;
Whilst muffins sit enthroned in trays,
And orange-punch in winter sways
The merry sceptre of my days;
And let the world laugh, an’ it will.

March 1, 2010 0 comments Read More