While in Mexico (which I am this week—and the last time I was in Mexico during poetry month was 2008, which is sort of weird and fascinating), I want to post some Mexican poets. Here's a little Octavio Paz.
A Roger Caillois
El agua horada la piedra,
el viento dispersa el agua,
la piedra detiene al viento.
Agua, viento, piedra.
El viento esculpe la piedra,
la piedra es copa del agua,
el agua escapa y es viento.
Piedra, viento, agua.
El viento en sus giros canta,
el agua al andar murmura,
la piedra inmóvil se calla.
Viento, agua, piedra.
Uno es otro y es ninguno:
entre sus nombres vacíos
pasan y se desvanecen
agua, piedra, viento.
for Roger Caillois
Water hollows stone,
wind scatters water,
stone stops the wind.
Water, wind, stone.
Wind carves stone,
stone's a cup of water,
water escapes and is wind.
Stone, wind, water.
Wind sings in its whirling,
water murmurs going by,
unmoving stone keeps still.
Wind, water, stone.
Each is another and no other:
crossing and vanishing
through their empty names:
water, stone, wind.
—Octavio Paz (1914-1998), "Wind, Water, Stone," translated by Eliot Weinberger, and in this case from The Collected Poems of Octavio Paz, 1957-1987 (New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1987).
(I really like this poem, but I've definitely seen too many BTS videos at this point, because I keep trying to read the poem in the rhythm of BTS doing rock paper scissors, which isn't...EXACTLY wrong.)
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