ANIMATE’M, ANIMA, M’ANIMAL by Enric Casasses, translated from the Catalan by Mara Faye Lethem
Selected by J. Kates
Mara Faye Lethem is a writer, researcher, and literary translator. Winner of the inaugural 2022 Spain-USA Foundation Translation Award for Max Besora’s The Adventures and Misadventures of Joan Orpí, she was also recently awarded the 2022 Joan Baptiste Cendrós International Prize for her contributions to Catalan literature. Her translation of Irene Solà’s When I Sing, Mountains Dance was a finalist for the 2022 National Book Critics Circle Barrios Book in Translation Prize and the 2023 Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize.
ANIMATE’M, ANIMA, M’ANIMAL
From the bubbling of ideas and bad ideas and half-formed ideas,
concepts, sketches,
i mean consciences, intentions, bad consciences, str-
ange pangs
whirlwinds of propositions and of premonitions
and preoccupations and predictions
whirling whirlwinds of words and tangles of terms and
adages
between the bustle of the now this morning and of the years, of what you
expect
perhaps from the living and the beating of the hearts of friends parents
siblings lovers
and the minefield of wagging tongues in offices and in
the enemy inside
and the ‘nimal
itching
on my skin
when the lice de-
vour me
and I scratch
at‘em
with my
fore paws.
ANIMA’L, ÀNIMA, L’ANIMAL
Del bulliment d’idees i de males idees i mitjes idees,
conceptes, esbossos,
vull dir consciències, intencions, males consciències, rau-
raus estranys,
remolins de propòsits i de pressentiments i del preocupar-se
i del preveure
remolins arremolinats de mots i travessats de paraules i de
frases fetes
entre la pressa d’ara d’aquest matí i la del anys, la del que
esperes
potser del viure i els batecs dels cors dels amics pares
germans amors
i el camp de mines de les males llengües de les oficines i el de
l’enemic de dins
i la picor
‘nimal
de la pell
quan se’m men-
gen els polls
i em grato’mb
les potes
de davant.
Enric Casasses
BIO OF THE POET:
Enric Casasses is a poet in Catalan language whose work is both erudite and whimsical, drawing from a wide range of influences including medieval poetry and free verse. Innovative and diverse in form, his playful works come to life on stage, often with musical accompaniment, during his recitals. His more than 25 published volumes have earned him numerous awards including the 2012 Catalan National Literature Prize and the 2020 Catalan Literary Achievement Award bestowed by Òmnium Cultural. More of his poems in English translation can be found at https://worldpoetryreview.org/2023/05/17/enric-casasses/