Puerto Rico och Yorkshire hann med det första tåget

Första dagen av heat 2, PSTC 2014, tog dikterna oss genom fattigdomen och fram till en liten kommun i södra Frankrike. 

Sjupoängaren gick till Manuel Rivas, Lag Galicien, för dikten om den egenartade cafébesökaren. Det var lite Jack Nicholson över den karaktären. De språkliga toppoängen tilldelades Donald Davie, Lag Yorkshire, för det härliga flödet och den snygga övergången mellan verserna i hans dikt om den franska kommunen Rodez.

At the door of a low inn scaled like a urinal
With greenish tiles. The door gave, and I came

Home to the stone north, every wynd and snicket

*

Lag Yorkshire fick totalt 8 poäng. Det fick också Lag Puerto Rico och Naomi Ayala för dikten Poverty. Så vi har delad ledning efter första dagen.

Yorkshire

Puerto Rico

Poängutdelning:

Lag	Innehåll	Språk	Day 1
Puerto Rico	6	2	8
Yorkshire	4	4	8
Galicien	7	0	7
Harlem	5	2	7
Dublin	3	3	6
Baskien	2	1	3
Färöarna	1	0	1

***

Andra dagens tema är Poesi och Skrivande.

BASKIEN : from Let’s break the chain / Gabriel Aresti

Because I am a poet,

I don't expect any heaven.

I have nine songs,

Four serious and five crazy.

The horns of the moon

And the twigs that from it hang.

I cannot forget

Your clear eyes.

*

HARLEM : from These Poems / June Jordan

These poems

they are things that I do

in the dark

reaching for you

whoever you are

and

are you ready?

These words

they are stones in the water

running away

*

YORKSHIRE : from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations / Simon Armitage

I should resist this degrading donkey-work in favor of my own

      writing,

wherein contentment surely lies.

But A. Smith stares smugly from the reverse of the twenty pound

      note,

and when my bank manager guffaws,

small particles of saliva stream like a meteor shower

through the infinity of dark space

between his world and mine.

*

PUERTO RICO : from I care about whichever word / Louis Reyes Rivera

Even in the repetition

a word

means just as much to me

as morning's mist to dawn

the ease with which

night

moves

out

*

FÄRÖARNA : ur Jeg vil have ordentlige drömme (i norsk översättning) / Jóanes Nielsen

Jeg er blevet mer og mer allergisk over for det pæne.

Duftende poesi byder mig imod.

Jeg vil hellere have ord, der stinker.

Ordene skal springe som gnister i defekte kontakter.

Jeg kan bedst lide blomster, der vokser i våd jord

ved septiktanke.

*

GALICIEN : from Love Song / María Do Cebreiro

And so the poem

can escape from the page

you must hold your breath,

think long and hard

about Spinoza,

write words of love

in another language,

quote without reference to sources,

try to find out

who Jack Johnson was,

recite in the French of Montreal,

say a long verse

without knowing exactly

what it means,

*

DUBLIN : The Lady of the Poets / Patrick Kavanagh

You I have long known

In tree and stone

And in all sealed tongues

Of sympathy. How many songs

Of secret self have you heard - 

Pitiful prayers that dared

Not turn to High

Heaven for mercy?

You have listened to the great,

And yet you wait

To comfort me

In my lone house of poetry.