ÖVERSÄTTNING: ISABEL M. ORTEGA RION & ANDREW WHITTET
Isabel M. Ortega Rion was born in Spain’s coastal city Tarragona in Catalonia. She has a degree in psychology and philosophy. She has worked as a teacher of Catalan language and literature in a high school on the outskirts of Barcelona. She has translated some articles by Simone Weil from French. In poetry, she has published “Enfilall” (2001), Runa plena (2004), Nòmada (2010), “Medusa (2013), “Cues de sargantana” (2019), “Gravetat” (2025), “Tan lluny, tan a prop” (Baix Continu, 2025) and has participated in several collective publications.
The sun, the watermelon, the rainwater,
the afternoons escorted by barking,
the incessant movement of insects,
the sadness of the days that slip away
slowly, like a dream, uselessly,
the litany of uniform hours,
the yawn of light filtering
through the darkest wall of the house,
common names, clichés without a place,
the you and the I, the transit of pronouns,
and I who don't want to, and you who don't want to,
and the autumn that weighs on us before it is born,
as if we were midwives of a baby
what should make us saccharum ravennae by the sea.
(Nòmada, 2010 Cossetània Edicions)
El sol, la síndria, l’aigua de pluja,
les tardes escortades per lladrucs,
el moviment incessant dels insectes,
l’abaltiment dels dies que s’escolen
lentament, com un somni, inútilment,
la lletania d’hores uniformes,
la badallera de la llum que es cola
per la paret més fosca de la casa,
els noms comuns, els tòpics sense lloc,
el tu i el jo, el trànsit de pronoms,
i jo que no vull, i tu que no vols,
i la tardor que ens pesa abans de néixer,
com si fóssim parteres d’un nadó
que ens ha de fer cesquera vora el mar.
(Nòmada, 2010 Cossetània Edicions)
The city turned upside down in puddles of rainwater
looks like a mirror: sedacaf, seinoclab. All light
against the night, stars like lanterns of boats
gliding through the harbor. All murmur like a sleeping
sea. I would like to dive into it, embrace
the friendly water, dissolve, be the air bubble
that populates a silent journey. all vapor,
all lightness
like a dream without dreams.
I see myself looking up, looking down,
that I am a body of water, a fish and a bird, an urban mermaid,
and I feel that disturbed happiness
that only sad people have.
(Nòmada, 2010 Cossetània Edicions)
La ciutat capgirada als tolls d’aigua de pluja
sembla un mirall: senàçaf, sedànoclab. Tot llum
contra la nit, estrelles com fanals d’unes barques
que llisquen per la rada. Tot remor com de mar
adormida. Voldria capbussar-m’hi, abraçar
l’aigua amiga, dissoldre’m, ser la bombolla d’aire
que pobla un trajecte silenciós. Tot baf,
tot lleugeresa
com un somni sense somnis.
M’hi veig mirant amunt, que miro avall, que sóc
cos d’aigua, peix i ocell, sirena urbana,
i sento aquesta felicitat pertorbada
que només tenen les persones tristes.
(Nòmada, 2010 Cossetània Edicions)
Andrew Whittet was born in London and graduated from the University of Sussex with a degree in English. He has a background in teaching English and translating from Spanish and Catalan to English. He has contributed to various literary journals, websites, podcasts and workshops. He divides his time between Barcelona and Sussex persueing his interest in art, literature and history.
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