Saturday 22 September 2012

Poems about translation 12: A pair of small ears

I was at a pleasing (and unexpected) spoken word/live music event the other evening at one of my favourite pubs, the King Street Tavern in Portsmouth. Among the entertainments was a very lovely reading by a Hampshire-based poet called Maggie Sawkins. Her poem 'A pair of small ears' begins
I have come to translate the silence.
I've bought paper and pencils
and a pair of small ears. 
Since by now you will be quivering with suspense to know how the paper, the pencils and the ears are going to get the job done, I am happy to say that the rest of the poem can be read here

2 comments:

hookedonwords said...

I fell upon this post while looking for A Pair of Small Ears recording. Thanks for your feedback. You might be interested to know that this poem's been translated into Romanian and was broadcast on Romanian National Radio a few years ago.

Maggie

sunny south coast said...

Dear Maggie,
Thank you for taking the time to comment, and to let us know about the translation. Thinking about how the poetry sounds, when you speak it, it must be a very interesting feeling to hear the poem again in a different set of sounds...