o elefante the elephant

o elefante

 
quando johanna morreu tinha um ano
e oito meses foi encontrada na piscina
apertava um elefante na mão que sua mãe
até hoje aperta muito embora o alzheimer
lhe impeça de lembrar por que ela a mãe
pulou na piscina ao ver johanna
à deriva no ventinho do norte da renânia
boiando na piscina que o pai de johanna
esqueceu de cobrir enquanto jogava
tênis com outros amigos talvez tão ou mais
ricos do que eles a mãe de johanna que hoje
já não se lembra de muita coisa como falei
por causa do alzheimer lembrou no entanto
de guardar o elefante só esqueceu
de tirar o vestido molhado dizem que passou
dias assim ‘parecia uma estátua grega’ disseram
o que ninguém viu era que apertava também o
elefantinho em 1958 quando eu morri 50 anos
depois tinha vinte e cinco anos e seis meses e apertava
o primeiro verso de um poema de sylvia plath e resistia
bravamente de olhos fechados enquanto caía morto
o mundo inteiro embora soubesse que o resto do
poema é uma declaração de amor completamente idiota
como são todas as declarações de amor heterossexual
e como tantas coisas que plath escreveu recitava
o poema enquanto me afogava me perdoe plath me perdoe
campilho o mundo é um horror o elefante é de pelúcia
e ossinhos não são de mel
são apenas cálcio
nada mais
 

the elephant

at the time of her death johanna was one year
and eight months old she was found in the pool
holding onto an elephant her mother
still holds today closely even though the alzheimer’s
prevents her from remembering why she the mother
did not jump into the pool when she first saw johanna
drifting on the light northern rhineland wind
floating on the pool that johanna’s father
forgot to cover as he played tennis
with his friends maybe as rich or more so
than themselves johanna’s mother today
doesn’t remember much like i said
because of the alzheimer’s she did however remember
to keep the elephant only she forgot
to remove the wet dress they said she spent
days like that looking ‘like a greek statue’
what no one noticed was that she held onto
the tiny elephant in 1958 when i died 50 years
later i was twenty-five years and six months old and i held onto
the first verse of a sylvia plath poem and resisted
fiercely with my eyes closed as the whole world
dropped dead even though i knew that the rest of the
poem is a declaration of love completely idiotic
as all declarations of heterosexual love are
so many things plath wrote i recited
the poem as i drowned forgive me plath forgive me
campilho the world is a horror the elephant is made of plush
and small bones are not made of honey
they are just calcium
nothing else.
 

the elephant

at the time of her death johanna was one year
and eight months old she was found in the pool
holding on to an elephant her mother
still today holds very much even though the alzheimer’s
prevents her from remembering why did she the mother
jump into the pool when she first saw johanna
drifting to the little northern rhineland wind
floating on the pool that johanna’s father
forgot to cover as he played tennis
with his other friends maybe as rich or more so
than themselves johanna’s mother today
doesn’t remember much like i said
because of the alzheimer’s she remembered however
to put the elephant away she only did forget
to remove the wet dress they say she spent
days like that ‘looked like a greek statue’ they said
what no one did notice was that she held onto
the tiny elephant in 1958 when i died 50 years
after i was twenty five years and six months old and i held onto
the first verse of a sylvia plath poem and resisted
fiercely with my eyes closed as the whole world
dropped dead even though knowing that the rest of the
poem is a declaration of love completely idiotic
as all declarations of heterosexual love are
and as many things that plath wrote i recited
the poem as i drowned forgive me plath forgive me
campilho the world is a horror the elephant is made of plush
and small bones are not made of honey
they are just calcium
nothing else
 

To celebrate the launch of Adelaide Ivánova’s the hammer and other poems we have commissioned Theresa Lola, Jade Cuttle and Destiny Adeyemi to write a poem responding to Adelaide’s work. We asked each of the poets to use Rachel Long and Francisco Vilhena’s translation of ‘the elephant’ as a catalyst for a new work of their own. These poems were first performed at Free Word at our ‘guerrilla bitchcraft’ event.

Destiny, Jade and Theresa are members of Octavia, a poetry collective for womxn of colour founded by Rachel Long in response to the lack of inclusivity and representation in literature and academia.

You can read their response poems here.

Original Poem by

Adelaide Ivánova

Translated by

Francisco Vilhena with Rachel Long Language

Portuguese

Country

Brazil