Adriana Oniță : Two poems

 

 

 

ȚARA ARDE ȘI BABA SE PIAPTĂNĂ

The country is on fire and the old woman is brushing her hair.

—Romanian proverb

Because she can’t smell the smoke. Because she’s combing out the flames. Because her country is a rough draft. Because she set fire to the country. Because she’s seen it all. Because she knows rain is coming. Because she won the war. Because she lost her children in the war. Because she wanted to become proverb. Because she is the library about to burn. Because her body is bait.

Țara arde and she can’t smell the smoke.
Țara arde and she’s combing out the flames.
Țara arde and her country is a rough draft.
Țara arde and she set fire to the country.

Țara arde and she’s seen it all.
Țara arde and she knows rain is coming.
Țara arde and she won the war.
Țara arde and she lost her children in the war.

Țara arde and she wanted to become proverb.
Țara arde and she is the library about to burn.
Țara arde and her body is bait.
Țara arde și baba se piaptănă.

 

 

 

 

PĂLĂVRĂGEALĂ

―It could just be me, but I find that the Romanian loses the reader. I was thrown off.

―It’s not just you. I completely checked out after that middle stanza that’s all in Romanian.

―If there were fewer Romanian words sprinkled throughout, it would be totally fine.

―For example, it makes sense for these nouns to be in Romanian, but the verbs and adverbs should be changed back to English.

―Wait, shouldn’t the Romanian words appear in italics?

―Maybe italics would make it easier to skip over them.

―Why aren’t there footnotes, or a translation, or a glossary?

―Not translating the Romanian seems arrogant. Personally, I would want my writing to be understood.

―If Romanian was a well-known language like Spanish, you could probably get away with this much code-switching.

―Are the goals to create dissonance and ambiguity? Where is the intimacy? Accessibility? Clarity?

―I actually like that I don’t know the Romanian parts. I love to see and hear the lusciousness of non-English languages.

―But I don’t feel like I’m the audience for this poem. I don’t feel invited in.

―I didn’t translate the Romanian phrases—it was clear the author didn’t want me to.

―I think we pretty much covered everything, but I will say that if I can’t understand the poem, read it aloud, recite it… what is the point?

―If the goal is to unsettle, it worked.

 

 

 

 

Adriana Oniță is a poet, artist, educator, and researcher with a PhD in language education. She writes and teaches in English, Romanian, Spanish, French, and Italian. As founding editor of The Polyglot, Adriana is proud to have published more than 200 writers and artists working in over 55 languages. Her recent multilingual poems appear in CBC Books, The Globe and Mail, and Tint Journal. She is also the author of two chapbooks: Misremembered Proverbs (above/ground press, forthcoming 2023) and Conjugated Light (Glass Buffalo, 2019). Adriana works as editorial director for the Griffin Poetry Prize and lives between Edmonton and Sicily. Discover her work at adrianaonita.com, and connect with her on social media: IG: adi.onita, Twitter: adi_onita, FB: Adriana Onita.

Photo credit: Shawna Lemay