Day 5 of NaPoWriMo was yesterday. I found the photo I wanted to use, and a French poem that I wanted to use. The prompt for yesterday was:
“Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem that, like the work in Translucence, reacts both to photography and to words in a language not your own. Begin with a photograph. Now find a poem in a language you don’t know (here’s a good place to look!) Ignore any accompanying English translation (maybe cover it up, or cut-and-paste the original into a new document). Now start translating the poem into English, with the idea that the poem is actually “about” your photograph. Use the look and feel of the words in the original to guide you along as you write, while trying to describe your photograph. It will be a bit of a balancing act, but hopefully it will lead to new and beautiful (and possibly very weird) places.”
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Here is the link to the photo I used to write the following poem in English https://rhscribbles.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/louisaseye-rekip7plus1.jpg
| The Cat by Ruth EK |
Le Pont Mirabeau de Guillaume Apollinaire |
| The eye of the cat is brilliant and bright | Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine |
| As she sits | Et nos amours |
| On my lap and adores | Faut-il qu’il m’en souvienne |
| The life that she lives in the house. | La joie venait toujours après la peine. |
| The light in her eye | Vienne la nuit sonne l’heure |
| Reflects the cats dreams | Les jours s’en vont je demeure |
| Of a life well lived with this woman and her man | Les mains dans les mains restons face à face |
| A life that is passing slowly yet swiftly by | Tandis que sousLe pont de nos bras passe |
| Eternally grateful for their adoration and love | Des éternels regards l’onde si lasse |
| Come and pet her | Vienne la nuit sonne l’heure |
| The blinks signals her love | Les jours s’en vont je demeure |
| A love that is forgiving and courageous | L’amour s’en va comme cette eau courante |
| She can only meow to express herself | L’amour s’en vaComme la vie est lente |
| Yet she is seldom ever violent | Et comme l’Espérance est violente |
| When the sky is dark | Vienne la nuit sonne l’heure |
| And the shades are closed | Les jours s’en vont je demeure |
| She crawls into bed with the woman and her man | Passent les jours et passent les semaines |
| And falls fast asleep | Ni temps passé |
| Loving them with every purr | Ni les amours reviennent |
| The eyes are closed for the night | Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine |
6 April 2018 @RuthEK
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