Guantánamo escrito Guantanamo, written

Guantánamo escrito

cuando supe que en la Base matan 
con Dryboarding (muerte por asfixia),
pensé en los reclusos 
 
talibanes, 
yemenitas,
 
que allí se estaban.
 
pensé sobre todo, en mi hermano José
que no es un talibán ni un yemenita,
pero vive en el Caribe, 
un Reparto muy distante de la Base.
 
pensé y no lo niego, en mi hermano, 
que muere diariamente por asfixia.
 

Guantanamo, written

when I heard that on the Base they kill
with Dryboarding (death by asphyxiation),
I thought of the captives,
 
taliban,
yemenites,
 
who were there in that place.
 
i thought, most of all, of my brother José
who is not a taliban or a yemenite,
but does live in the Caribbean,
worlds away from the Base.
 
i don’t deny i thought about my brother
dying every day from asphyxiation.
 

The Cuban poet Oscar Cruz’s poetry is accessible and arresting, but in our workshop we discovered that its apparent simplicity can also sometimes be deceptive. Many lines caused debate from the title onwards – we toyed with ‘Guantanamo writ large’, ‘Guantanamo in so many words’, ‘Guantanamo summed up’ and numerous other variations before settling on a more literal interpretation (which still feels slightly lacking). It was sobering to hear about Dryboarding, a torture technique in which rags are stuffed down the victim’s throat and their nose taped shut inducing the first stages of death, and the image feeds powerfully into the last line – both in reality and metaphorically the men in this poem die every day.

Guantanamo written

when i knew that in the Base they kill
with Dryboarding (death by asphyxiation),
I thought of the inmates
 
talibans,
yemenites,
 
who there were.
 
i thought above all, of my brother José
that is not a taliban nor a yemenite,
but lives in the Caribbean,
an Area very distant from the Base.
 
i thought and don’t it deny, of my brother,
that dies daily from asphyxiation. 
 

The Cuban poet Oscar Cruz’s poetry is accessible and arresting, but in our workshop we discovered that its apparent simplicity can also sometimes be deceptive. Many lines caused debate from the title onwards – we toyed with ‘Guantanamo writ large’, ‘Guantanamo in so many words’, ‘Guantanamo summed up’ and numerous other variations before settling on a more literal interpretation (which still feels slightly lacking). It was sobering to hear about Dryboarding, a torture technique in which rags are stuffed down the victim’s throat and their nose taped shut inducing the first stages of death, and the image feeds powerfully into the last line – both in reality and metaphorically the men in this poem die every day.

Original Poem by

Oscar Cruz

Translated by

Serafina Vick with The Poetry Translation Workshop Language

Spanish

Country

Cuba