Heart in an Apacheta-Stone Poems
Poems by John Martínez Gonzalez, translated into English by Arturo Desimone
CVI (from the unpublished book Bells Under the Sea)
It observes me
a stone that shudders
a piece of impregnated earth
unpublished mineral new needing to be named
the lytic pulse of the whole valley
it watches me
it moors me
it can have me.
to Listen with the body to all of the language of stone
all of the forms of the universe
all the totems the gods
because the stone speaks it moves
makes gestures and still I
am not worthy to make an apacheta, a holy rock-pile,
to speak truly.
The poem I want to write is pulsating inside that rock
the verse that inhabits me, untranslated
supports me
is there,
is the rock that moves by itself in the quietude
the immobile beauty dancing
from its umbilical it humbles speaks to me of the world
the rock and its legend
it can have me
it speaks to me
it transfigures me.
***
The eye of water is the filter of devotion
the young rice in the dormant fountain
along the path of the one dancing
inside
the toad
the amaru big serpent
the condor
and the jaguar
outside
the dance of atinapanacuy*
the spirit of water
awakening the obsidian
the secret
and the body
the vegetable rope
the table is set
for the millenarian pollen that falls with its cadence
the fertile part of truth invoked for the dance.
Video showing the dance called Atinapanacuy in Peru
Amaru is Quichua for serpent, and signifies a very large serpent, also the name of a God who is serpentine or dragon-like in his manifestation.
A famous Andean name “Tupac Amaru” (name of a guerilla fighter who resisted the Spanish colonization) means ‘’Thunder Snake” (not used or referred to in Martínez poems here translated.)
***
The body is an other thing,
the Chosen one makes the skin flexile and sets fire to the harp and the violin
it is just one more instrument
the doorway between the Apu’s* and ourselves,
the numbered language of stones,
a distinct heartbeat of the species
the Chosen
is another mountain
another truth.
In the following poem, “Chuspicha” is the name of a dancer who John writes about. But the name “Chuspicha’’ is also a Quichua word for mosquito.
***
Chuspicha* weaves a dance
and the sound within the sound disconcerts me,
the unfinishedness decorates the house
there I see
a condor’s petrified black claw
all around
lone pieces of metal scattered
beyond
trails in chiaroscuro.
Then
parents trapped in ponchos
genealogy and the power that guides
the hand of Chuspicha
who gathers metal
and rivets the air.
The dance, overflowing
makes the house glow
makes the hour narcotic
invokes the stones of power
and the thousand-year roads.
Down there, the walkways
invaded by the migratory trees,
the Sun
adores even the wind
while the earth readies the first rain
with his vast eyes, Chuspicha impregnates the atmosphere
Evening fallen on the land,
soon it will be the first night of the feast of water.
Translator’s note on CVI: while stunned by the beautiful animism of John’s poem to the pulse/the rock-beat, inhabiting the stone, and the search for his heart’s equivalent in the stone, it became apparent how, in Spanish, the determining, possessive terms su, ‘se’, which can be used for an object or animal, remain the same when used for a person, and also for an esteemed person, such as an elder or authority figure, who is usually spoken to in the formal second-person as a sort of “Thou’’ (Usted), unlike the informal second person “you” (tu, vos) While translating into English, the translator meets a fork in the road, as su, used for the stone in the poem, changes into the less ambiguous “its’’ — used for animals, minerals, children etc in English. (This is not intended as a value judgment about the ‘’friendliness’’ of Spanish grammar towards existence as opposed to English.) In the spiritism and in the resonance of tradition that John’s poems exude, it is insisted upon that the piece of a holy order in the world, an animal, a stone, that is part of the apachete or of a shrine, is a “Thou’’ and has a power. Of course, this power is by no means anthropomorphic, therefore not requiring ‘’his’’ or ‘’hers’’ when referring to the rock.
CVI
Me observa
una piedra que late
un pedazo de tierra preñada
mineral inédito nuevo por nombrar
la pulsación lítica de todo el valle
me mira
me mora
me puede.
Oír con el cuerpo todo el lenguaje de la piedra
todas las formas del universo
todos los tótems los dioses
porque la piedra habla se mueve
hace gestos y yo todavía
no soy digno de armar una apacheta,
de hablar de verdad.
El poema que quiero escribir está latiendo en esa roca
el verso que me habita, intraducido
me sostiene
está allí,
es la roca que se mueve en la quietud
la belleza inmóvil danzando
desde su ombligo me habla el mundo
la roca y su leyenda
me puede
me habla
me transfigura.
(del libro inédito Campanas bajo el mar)
Poemas del libro El Elegido (también se pueden leer en este blog literario de Los Poetas del 5
http://lospoetasdelcinco.blogspot.com.ar/2011/10/john-martinez-gonzales-poesia-actual-de.html
***
El cuerpo es otra cosa,
el Elegido flexibiliza la piel e incendia el arpa y el violín
es un instrumento más
la puerta entre los Apus y nosotros,
lenguaje cifrado de las piedras
latido distinto de la especie
el Elegido
es otro cerro
otra verdad.
El ojo de agua es filtro de la devoción
soca puquío dormido
en el sendero del danzante
adentro
el sapo
el amaru
el cóndor
y el jaguar
afuera
el atipanacuy
el espíritu del agua
despertando la obsidiana
el secreto
y el cuerpo
la cuerda vegetal
la mesa preparada
para el polen milenario y cadencioso
lo fértil de la verdad invocada por el baile.
*
Chuspicha* teje una danza
y el sonido dentro del sonido me desconcierta,
lo inédito decora la casa
allí veo
una pata de cóndor petrificada y negra
alrededor
pedazos de metal solos
más allá
registros en claroscuro.
Entonces
los padres retenidos en los ponchos
la genealogía y el poder guiando
la mano de Chuspicha
que junta el metal
y corta el aire.
La danza desborda
hace tintinear la casa
vuelve narcótica la hora
invoca piedras de poder
y caminos milenarios.
Al fondo los andenes
invadidos por árboles migratorios,
el Sol
dora también el viento
mientras la tierra prepara la primera lluvia
y Chuspicha preña la atmosfera de grandes ojos.
Cae la tarde sobre la tierra
será la primera noche de la fiesta del agua.
