{"id":36688,"date":"2024-11-07T12:30:26","date_gmt":"2024-11-07T20:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/?p=36688"},"modified":"2024-11-07T12:30:26","modified_gmt":"2024-11-07T20:30:26","slug":"vertical-poetry-by-robert-juarroz-translated-by-w-s-merwin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/vertical-poetry-by-robert-juarroz-translated-by-w-s-merwin\/","title":{"rendered":"Vertical Poetry by Robert Juarroz (Translated by W.S. Merwin)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Willow<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Found in\u00a0Willow Springs 19<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to\u00a0Author Profile<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Vertical Poetry by Robert Juarroz (Translated by W.S. Merwin)<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Labyrinth of the bitter and the sweet,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of the ripe seasons before the harvest,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of the mistaken expressions in the exact forges,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of the dead sweetnesses around the fruit, of the depraved acids<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the blockade the tactile strategems of the afternoon,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

thick walls of a climate that should have been future,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

more future than the weather of any future day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taste drives mad<\/p>\n\n\n\n

like a thread of blood that misses its veins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even the central trunk falls outside of the forest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a thing changes form<\/p>\n\n\n\n

it changes taste at the same time,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

not only its taste to others<\/p>\n\n\n\n

but also its taste to itself,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the flavor proper to its mode,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the relish of its unpeopled gut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if in the procession or dissipation of forms<\/p>\n\n\n\n

this thing should find its own,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

should meet it again in the sealed cloud of its origin,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

its taste would be the same as before,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

but only outwardly, never to itself again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crack of imminence in the heart,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

while the foot of hope<\/p>\n\n\n\n

dances its blue dance,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in love with its own shadow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is an expectant hymn<\/p>\n\n\n\n

that cannot begin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

as long as the dance has not finished<\/p>\n\n\n\n

its cultivation of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a hymn backward,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and inverted imminence,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the last thread to tie the fountain<\/p>\n\n\n\n

before its flow carries it away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are songs that sing,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

there are others that are silent,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the deepest of all go backward<\/p>\n\n\n\n

from the first letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The roads leading upward<\/p>\n\n\n\n

never get there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The roads leading downward<\/p>\n\n\n\n

always get there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there are the roads in between.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But sooner or later every road<\/p>\n\n\n\n

leads up or down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interior deserts,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

vague litanies for someone who died<\/p>\n\n\n\n

leaving all the doors open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A gray cloak over another cloak of no color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Excessive densities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even the wind casts a shadow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mockery of the landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing left to call to<\/p>\n\n\n\n

but a flat dark sun<\/p>\n\n\n\n

or an endless rain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or wipe out the landscape<\/p>\n\n\n\n

with the wind and its shadow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there is one further resort:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

drive the desert mad<\/p>\n\n\n\n

until it turns into water<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and drinks itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is better to madden the desert<\/p>\n\n\n\n

than to live there.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":25234,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpo365_audiences":[],"wpo365_private":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36688"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25234"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36688"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36691,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36688\/revisions\/36691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}