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 tentaciรณn y la
obsesiรณn.
Ojo.
Los egoรญstas
y los adoradores
de falsos esplendores
pueden esperar
poco mรกs que
decepciones.
Sรญ, hay que tener ojo
ante la oscuridad …
Y ojo con los
espejos …
Pero mรกs que nada
Ojo
Con el demonio
que eres tรบ.
(Copyright Adam Donaldson Powell, “Three-legged Waltz”, Cyberwit publishers, 2006, trad. de Marรญa Cristina Azcona, Argentina)
N.B. I premiered the English and Spanish poems included in “Three-legged Waltz” in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2005.
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