Vaivén de fantasías

Los argonautas se albergaron
en la oscuridad de mis zapatos
y un dragón azul acudió
a encenderme la estufa.
El cielo limpio se escondió
en las gavetas del armario,
lo que explica el silencio
de los pájaros y el exceso
de neblina en la ropa que me puse.
Hoy la soledad es un vaivén
de fantasías.
Mejor así.
Ayer el día desató un
huracán de anzuelos
que dejó al mar vacío
y al sol humedecido
como ojo de ballena herida.

Marooned

The argonauts took shelter
in the darkness of my shoes
and a blue dragon arrived
to light the stove for me.
The clear sky hid
in my dresser drawers
which explains the silence
of the birds and the excess
of mist in the clothes I put on.
Today solitude is an ebbing and flowing
of fantasy.
Better this way.
Yesterday set off a
hurricane of fish hooks
that left the sea empty
and the sun slick                             
like the eye of an injured whale.

I looked it up, given that my Spanish vocabulary consists of approximately five words. Was marooned really the English word for Vaivén de fantasias? Particularly when that phrase, in the body of the poem posted above, was translated into ebbing and flowing of fantasy?

The official translation of Vaivén was sway, or seesaw, the latter a playful term much more in sync with the rest of the poem’s vivid imagery (and its reference to the fate of the argonauts, in their continual push/pull adventures.) What was the translator thinking? That we needed a hint? Is that kosher?

The poet is Carlos Parada Ayala, a recipient of the Larry Neal Poetry Award from the DC Commission on the Arts, a member of the Late Night Hour poetry collective, and a founding member of ParaEsoLaPalabra, a multi-genre arts collective in DC. Parada Ayala is included in podcast series “The Poet and The Poem at the Library of Congress.” The poem comes from his first published collection in 2013, La luz de la tormenta / The Light of the Storm, which focused on solitary experience way before the current lock-down ensued.

It so happens, though, that the English as well as the Spanish title and my resolve to end this week’s display of photographed fauna rather than flora with a cache of artificial creatures collected across my travels, provided a perfect match. I am marooned, thus living out my longing for travel by going back to the archives. I have bunches of images of fantastical fauna that could have been encountered any day by the argonauts on their mythical voyage, swaying reality for just a moment in our realm of solitude. All that’s missing is the blue dragon that I could ride out of here….maybe I’ll take the unicorn instead.

*

Hm, argonauts hiding in the obscurity of a shoe – whatever happened to Jason and his buddies? Lost interest in the golden fleece? Lost interest in Medea, his fratricidal lover/spouse? Decided to give up the fight for the throne usurped by his uncle in view of all the giants and dragons and gods they had to challenge? Too exhausted for adventure, with physically or psychologically injured beings wherever we look?

And isn’t marooned the wrong analogy when next he turns to fishhooks – pointing to events on the ship delaying their pursuers so they could escape? Medea not only killed her brother to protect her lover, but cut Absyrtus into myriad pieces and threw them overboard, so his family was obliged to pick every one of them out of the sea for proper burial, an exceedingly important ritual? Sure slowed them down. Sure horror movies are not a thing of the recent past. Sure solitude is the last thing you find on a ship carrying a band of heroes. Oh, all so confusing.

Not just solitude ebbing and flowing here – interpretation as well. Your take on all of this is as good as mine – I’m easily swayed, with no Argo in sight to pick me up and carry me away!

Music today is from Latin America, where Parada Ayala was born.