Centre for Romanian Studies

Poetry in Translation (CCCXLIX), Care SANTOS (b.1970) SPAIN/CATALONIA: “Atlasul Corpului”, “The Great Atlas of the Human Body”

Care SANTOS

Atlasul Corpului
Care SANTOS, (b. 1970, Mataro, Spania/Catalonia)

Cortexul prefrontal
este cea mai mare cameră din casă
pe care o numim creier.
Este motivul pentru care foloseste ca debara,
ca să păstrăm acolo toate lucrurile:
ce am învăţat, ce gândim uneori,
ce suntem şi ce facem,
ce uităm uneori
despre ce ştim, deja
şi iarăşi (ce este greu de imaginat)
ceeace simţim prin piele:
noaptea aceea din Cordoba
(numele hotelului îmi este vag ),
acel zgomot infernal din Gran Vía,
pe fundalul gemetelor noastre,
ţipetele disonante ale pescăruşilor
deasupra lucarnei
şi acea durere ciclică de a mă smulge de tine
în fiecare săptămână.
Ce păcat
că folosim aşa de mult spaţiu ca să păstrăm
obiecte inutile.
În orice zi aşi aduna nişte cutii
ca să golesc camera de amintiri inutile.
O să le las în stradă, lângă lada de gunoi
în caz ca ar fi folositoare cuiva.
Oricând îmi voi afla amintirile mele,
în braţele unei alte femei
care ştie cum să le aprecieze.

Versiune în limba Română de Constantin ROMAN,
© 2015 Copyright Constantin ROMAN, London

* * * * * *

Atlas of the Human Body

The Great Atlas of the Human Body
by Care Santos
translated into English by Lawrence Schimel

The Prefrontal Cortex
is the largest room of the home
we call the brain.
That’s why it’s used as the storeroom
to keep everything:
what is learned, what is sometime thought,
what we are and what we do,
what we sometimes unlearn
about the already known
and also (how difficult it is to imagine)
that which we feel through the skin:
that night in Cordoba
(the name of the hotel is fuzzy),
the infernal noise of the Gran Vía
under our moans,
the unharmonious voices of local seagulls
above the skylights
and that periodic pain of pulling away from you
week after week.
What a shame,
how much space we take up in warehousing worthless
bits of junk.
Any day I’ll get some boxes
and empty the storeroom of useless memories.
I’ll leave them in the street, beside the garbage can
in case they’re of any use to someone.
Any day I’ll see them, my memories,
in the hands of another woman
who knows how to appreciate them.

Translated from Catalan by Lawrence SHIMEL

SHORT BIO: POET Care SANTOS (b. Mataró, 1970) is one of Spain’s most versatile and prolific writers. Writing in both Catalan and Spanish, she is the author of over 40 books in different genres, including novels, short story collections, young adult and children’s books, poetry, etc.
TRANSLATOR & POET – Lawrence SCHIMEL (b. 1971, New York) writes in both Spanish and English and has published over 100 books in many different genres, for both adults and children. He is the publisher of the independent poetry press A Midsummer Night’s Press. He lives in Madrid, Spain where he works as a Spanish-English translator.