Oso Para Vos

Being a poet gives me certain privileges (ever heard of “poetic license”?), and yet poets have always been considered to be amongst the most dangerous thinkers and artists throughout history. That is, “dangerous” for those who would prefer that the populace not think, dream or play with questions outside of their (economic and power) class.

Ironically, today there are more and more “poets” crawling all over the planet. We are multiplying like “cockroaches”, and getting bolder all the while. This is the time of fast-moving images, short messages, instant novels and short-cuts, while we are expected to be entertained, seduced to think and participate in literary and artistic discussions from the comforts of our Kindle, iPhone/iPad, Twitter and Facebook. But there are still rules to be adhered to — the same corporations and government agencies and other elites still control thoughts and artistic expressions, on all ends of the spectrum of provocation (or not). And that is where poets come in. We — like the occasional rebel philosopher — can be an unpredictable, unruly bunch of hoodlums. We used to be called “devils”, but now all who question the “agenda-setters” all too much are simply termed “terrorists”.

The Devil

Beware.

The dark one

Lurks not in

The shadows,

And not amongst

Your friends

Or enemies.

Beware, for

His evil lies

Within you,

And eagerly

Awaits release

By descendents

Of Pandora.

Beware of

The road to

Inertia and ruin,

So carelessly

Littered with

Temptation and

Obsession.

Beware.

The self-centered

And worshippers

Of false splendor

Can expect

Little more than

Disappointment.

Yes. Beware

Of darkness ..

And beware

Of mirrors …

But most of all

Beware

Of the devil

That you are.

(by Adam Donaldson Powell, from “Collected poems and stories, Cyberwit publishers, 2005.)

EL DIABLO.

Ojo.
El Oscuro
no reside en las sombras,
ni entre tus amigos
o enemigos.
Ojo.
Sus mentiras malvadas
cerca de ti,
ansiosas
esperan a ser liberadas
por los descendientes de
Pandora.
Ojo.
Con no caer en el
camino hacia la inercia
y la ruindad,
O a ser atacado brutalmente
por la tentación y la
obsesión.
Ojo.
Los egoístas
y los adoradores
de falsos esplendores
pueden esperar
poco más que
decepciones.
Sí, hay que tener ojo
ante la oscuridad …
Y ojo con los
espejos …
Pero más que nada
Ojo
Con el demonio
que eres tú.

(Copyright Adam Donaldson Powell, “Three-legged Waltz”, Cyberwit publishers, 2006, trad. de María Cristina Azcona, Argentina)

 

N.B. I premiered the English and Spanish poems included in “Three-legged Waltz” in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2005.