El Hombre Que Cuidaba Pingüinos Suicidas En Las Payas Abandonadas Del Mundo The Man Who Looked After Suicidal Penguins on the Abandoned Beaches of the World

El Hombre Que Cuidaba Pingüinos Suicidas En Las Payas Abandonadas Del Mundo

Melancólico y solo, con pingüino
​melancólico y solo en una playa
melancólica y sola. No canalla.
No cansado. No feo. No mezquino.
 
Melancólico sí. Por un camino
de sargazos y muerte y atarraya.
La botella feliz. Eso no falla.
La botella, la noche y un pingüino.
 
Melancólico y solo. Mar de pluma.
¿Dónde están tus amigos, tu familia?
Bebe un poco, sonríe, llora, fuma.
 
No acaricies pingüinos. Es zoofilia.
No confundas la arena con la espuma.
Agradece. Recuerda. Reconcilia.
 

The Man Who Looked After Suicidal Penguins on the Abandoned Beaches of the World

Melancholy and alone, with a penguin
that’s melancholy and alone on a beach
that’s melancholy and alone. Not rotten.
Not tired. Not ugly. Not mean.
 
Melancholy, yes. On a trail
of Sargasso weed and death and nets.
The happy bottle. This never fails.
The bottle, the night and a penguin.
 
Melancholy and alone. A sea of feathers.
Where are your friends, your family?
Drink a little, smile, cry, smoke.
 
Don’t stroke penguins. That’s Zoophilia.
Don’t confuse sand with surf.
Be grateful. Remember. Reconcile.
 

The man who looked after penguins suicides In the beaches abandoned of the world

Melancholic and alone, with penguin
​Melancholic and alone on a beach
Melancholic and alone. No riffraff.
No tired. No ugly. No miser.
 
Melancholic yes. For a path
Of Sargasso and death and net.
The happy bottle. This doesn’t fail.
The bottle, the night and a penguin.
 
Melancholic and alone. Sea of feathers.
Where are your friends, your family?
Drink a little, smile, cry, smoke.
 
Don’t stroke penguins. Is zoophile.
Don’t confuse the sand with the foam.
Be grateful. Remember. Reconcile.
 

Legna Rodriquez Iglesias was born in 1984 and really reminds me of many exciting poets of her generation in the UK like Heather Phillipson or Jack Underwood – the long, memorable titles; the mixture of almost childlike simplicity with complicated ironies. This is a poem that on one level, pleads with a friend not to kill himself. But it’s funny. And it seems to me to romanticise him, mock him, admonish him and comfort him all at once.

There were some interesting conversations during our workshop about Sargasso weed; whether ‘the happy bottle’ was alcohol (or had a message in it); whether ‘caress’ or ‘pet’ might be better verbs than stroke; and whether the final reconciliation the man needs is with himself or his family and friends. Also whether to use melancholy or melancholic. It seems they are both acceptable adjectives, so in the end we voted on our preferred sound (given we had to use the word 5 times).

Clare Pollard

Original Poem by

Legna Rodríguez Iglesias

Translated by

Serafina Vick with The Poetry Translation Workshop Language

Spanish

Country

Cuba