as someone who's had to write for a part of her living & speaks more than two languages, this was really interesting! the nature of languages & their ability to have a say in how & what we say is fascinating
Failed is quite a strong proclamation. I really enjoyed your writing. I'll check out your first poem, but I am skeptical of the idea of you re-editing it. The progression of your journey seems to be one of the pillars of starting your journey. I"m not a novelist and if its any consolation, I'm not so much a fail poet as I am generally humbled by the poet's ability to say in a dozen words what it takes me to say in a thousand.
Kasu! Me encanta saber sobre tu proceso. I feel terrible because I can only write in English (pues la mayoría de las veces). Mi español, siendo mi primer idioma, resulta ser más difícil para mí. Creo que es por lo mismo que dices. Es un idioma más florecido, enriquecido, tiene mucho de donde sacar y puedes embellecerlo sin parar. En inglés, siento que puedo expresar con menos. No tengo idea de cómo explicarlo. Pero cuando escribo “simple” en español, no queda nada bien. Pareciera un poema muy incompleto y sin sal. Quizás no estoy leyendo el diccionario lo suficiente. Thanks for sharing this ❤️🙏
Cuando quieras podemos conversar sobre ello, puedo mostrarte algunos poemas español vs las traducciones, y el efecto es diferente. En español también puedes simplificar, pero me termina pasando que quiero adornar más haha. La cura para eso es simplemente leer más poetas hispanos y 'casarte' con uno que te guste. Mi mayor inspiración en español es Alejandra Pizarnik por ejemplo. En cualquier caso escríbeme cuando quieras!
El hecho de que usted incluso escriba en una lengua distinta de su lengua materna, considerando el ejemplo de la mayoría de los anglófonos en Occidente, es en sí mismo digno de gran elogio.
As an author who writes in English, my mother tongue, and translates to Danish – I live in Denmark – I can really appreciate the struggles you probably have when moving from your “operatic” voice to the acute and astute simplicity, in English of your small wounds poems. Acute as regards the precision of your language, astute as regards your inherent feel for the complex processes and emotions of relating.
That is no mean feat, in particular as your texts resonate, not just for me, but, as you indicate, with many others as well.
I would also repeat what I hinted at in my last restack / comment to your #9 poem, namely how you are able to invoke an emotional intensity in the space of a few lines and how you deftly use cadence, and I can see it more clearly now, how you structure the beats in your texts.
As I said, you have very sensitive ear for the gentle beats you cluster, fragment or stretch out.
I’m not sure I agree with your Denis Villeneuve citation that one can re-wire one’s brain. My experience is that when writing in English I hardly have to think. The language flows, so much that I come too sometimes, wondering where I’ve been after discovering I’ve been writing solid for about 6 hours or more.
I am simply unable to do that in Danish. It’s a struggle to write. I’m fluent, almost, when speaking Danish, but it is impossible for me to activate the same kind of flow and associations that arise when I write in English.
You, on the other hand, seem able to do something with English that is quite remarkable. I would actually say that, in my terminology, that your going from Spanish to English is an enabling constraint. The situation you have chosen to place yourself in is actually, because of its limitations, enabling another kind of linguistic quality to emerge through your creative impulse.
My guess is that impulse, coupled with the relational and emotional context in which you are working, has always been there, even in Spanish. It is, after all, your lived experience that you are now able to tap into, release and articulate through this enabling strategy you’re now engaged with.
Another person on Substack, that I know of, who writes about the same is Milena Babic – What it’s like to write in a second language.
Finally, I have a couple of authors who might interest you, if you don’t know of them already.
Coral Bracho - It Must Be a Misunderstanding - new and selected poems - Carcanet - Spanish and English.
I obviously can’t understand the Spanish, but it might be useful for you to see the parallel texts.
Bracho’s language is hypnotising and in the publication I’ve mentioned there are examples of both her earlier work and later work. A Mexican poet, born in 1951, she became the cornerstone of contemporary Mexican poetry. Even more interestingly, in the context of your work, Bracho managed to go from a symphony of sound language to a succinct simplicity.
From:
In this Dark Tepid Mosque
I know of your body: the reefs,
the scattering birds,
the light sought and unsettled (on your candescent thighs incited by rain), of your surge:
I know your thresholds as though they let me go to the edge of this roomy, murmurous,
tepid mosque; as though they wove me (your dark suave scent) into the heat of its naves.
(Your sour, impenetrable orchards) I know of your fountains, of your ripe and turbulent echoes, the luminous amplitude, fecund; of your mirror-bright dream, of your patios:…
to
Butterfly
Like a spinning coin
threaded to the sun
the butterfly catching fire
at the sweet basil flower.
You also mention Haiku. One of the best books I’ve ever read on Haiku is written by another Substack member, Jane Hirshfield.
And here to round this off, is a haiku poem that is one of my absolute favourites:
after the snowfall…
deep in the pine forest
the sound of an axe
You end most of your texts with what I’d call an italicised attuning. A kind of resonant isolation that creates in your text or, as I see them, a final lingering note of a musical score:
the sound of an axe in the Haiku above is doing exactly the same as your:
how to hold it
like an answer
I can keep
I can’t name
As you said:
But the Kasu of small wounds asks for something else. Not minimalism in the sense of white walls and Scandinavian furniture, but a minimalism where silence carries what words cannot.
Yes! I am sure many others will agree with me, when I say that you are achieving that.
i like the pacing in your poem, it leaves room for individual interpretation & evokes feeling like you said you wanted it to. i felt a pit in my stomach reading it! & the way you mentioned having a different writing style in other languages is interesting, this was something i actually thought about today bc i’ve been learning italian lately and i’m excited to see how my way of speaking develops or the way my personality expresses itself thru that language
Enjoyed your thoughts. Years ago I lived in Spain and wrote a few poems in Spanish so I could relate. I would like to suggest however, that a poem can hold more than words or language. Some of my favorites are Rilke and Rumi…. So I will never appreciate their original versions…. but wow the “idea” that the translation conveys still floors me.
Look forward to reading…. it’s funny… I believe English has a bigger dictionary? But I love the romantic languages.. much more expressive.. a Spaniard told me once English sounds like someone trying to speak while chewing gum 😊
Wow I never thought about how if you could speak different languages that it could feel like having to approach the way your write differently 🤔 I only speak English but I’ve always found it deeply impressive that people around the world can speak multiple languages.
I would leave that first piece as is! Being able to reflect on your growth is so personal and so healing. I am in awe of your ability to write in two languages!
Lovely and honest post. I don’t think you should give up the novel either. Just some things to think about. A novel can be 150 pages long- not 1,500. Also - you start small with a novel. Grab a piece of paper and make a collage or list of things you are passionate about. Don’t hold back - it can be anything. Topics you would like to voice your opinions about, arenas you find interesting (ex: sports, hospitals, courthouses, coffee shops, Wall Street…). Anything from favorite colors to things you passionately HATE! Be completely open. Absolutely anything. Catch phrases. Quotes or song lyrics you love. And what might start to happen is you might start to magically lift a story (even a very tiny one) from all of these different words/topics. Give yourself time. Don’t rush it. This could work for poems too! What goal would you love to see a character or characters achieve and what would get in their way to achieve them? It’s a good exercise because you are starting from a point of passion. Continued luck and creativity and inspiration.
Even cursed lol
Sometimes it is haha 🤭
this is relatable and beautiful🦋 thank you for sharing xx also I'd love to see your spanish work if you're open to share it. maybe?
Totally open, and I will soon, since I'll start working on translating it! 💜
🖤xx
as someone who's had to write for a part of her living & speaks more than two languages, this was really interesting! the nature of languages & their ability to have a say in how & what we say is fascinating
Thank you for reading me 💜. It is right? Soo fascinating, I literally feel the gears in my brain turning in different ways
Failed is quite a strong proclamation. I really enjoyed your writing. I'll check out your first poem, but I am skeptical of the idea of you re-editing it. The progression of your journey seems to be one of the pillars of starting your journey. I"m not a novelist and if its any consolation, I'm not so much a fail poet as I am generally humbled by the poet's ability to say in a dozen words what it takes me to say in a thousand.
I didn't. And thank you 💜 I'm very proud of my writing just maybe not cut for novels, but who knows. I still have an unfinished one I may finish!
Kasu! Me encanta saber sobre tu proceso. I feel terrible because I can only write in English (pues la mayoría de las veces). Mi español, siendo mi primer idioma, resulta ser más difícil para mí. Creo que es por lo mismo que dices. Es un idioma más florecido, enriquecido, tiene mucho de donde sacar y puedes embellecerlo sin parar. En inglés, siento que puedo expresar con menos. No tengo idea de cómo explicarlo. Pero cuando escribo “simple” en español, no queda nada bien. Pareciera un poema muy incompleto y sin sal. Quizás no estoy leyendo el diccionario lo suficiente. Thanks for sharing this ❤️🙏
Cuando quieras podemos conversar sobre ello, puedo mostrarte algunos poemas español vs las traducciones, y el efecto es diferente. En español también puedes simplificar, pero me termina pasando que quiero adornar más haha. La cura para eso es simplemente leer más poetas hispanos y 'casarte' con uno que te guste. Mi mayor inspiración en español es Alejandra Pizarnik por ejemplo. En cualquier caso escríbeme cuando quieras!
Sii me encantaría muchas gracias!!! ☺️
El hecho de que usted incluso escriba en una lengua distinta de su lengua materna, considerando el ejemplo de la mayoría de los anglófonos en Occidente, es en sí mismo digno de gran elogio.
Gracias 💜💜 tus palabras significan mucho!
As an author who writes in English, my mother tongue, and translates to Danish – I live in Denmark – I can really appreciate the struggles you probably have when moving from your “operatic” voice to the acute and astute simplicity, in English of your small wounds poems. Acute as regards the precision of your language, astute as regards your inherent feel for the complex processes and emotions of relating.
That is no mean feat, in particular as your texts resonate, not just for me, but, as you indicate, with many others as well.
I would also repeat what I hinted at in my last restack / comment to your #9 poem, namely how you are able to invoke an emotional intensity in the space of a few lines and how you deftly use cadence, and I can see it more clearly now, how you structure the beats in your texts.
As I said, you have very sensitive ear for the gentle beats you cluster, fragment or stretch out.
I’m not sure I agree with your Denis Villeneuve citation that one can re-wire one’s brain. My experience is that when writing in English I hardly have to think. The language flows, so much that I come too sometimes, wondering where I’ve been after discovering I’ve been writing solid for about 6 hours or more.
I am simply unable to do that in Danish. It’s a struggle to write. I’m fluent, almost, when speaking Danish, but it is impossible for me to activate the same kind of flow and associations that arise when I write in English.
You, on the other hand, seem able to do something with English that is quite remarkable. I would actually say that, in my terminology, that your going from Spanish to English is an enabling constraint. The situation you have chosen to place yourself in is actually, because of its limitations, enabling another kind of linguistic quality to emerge through your creative impulse.
My guess is that impulse, coupled with the relational and emotional context in which you are working, has always been there, even in Spanish. It is, after all, your lived experience that you are now able to tap into, release and articulate through this enabling strategy you’re now engaged with.
Another person on Substack, that I know of, who writes about the same is Milena Babic – What it’s like to write in a second language.
https://lettersfromterra.substack.com/p/what-its-like-to-write-in-a-second.
Finally, I have a couple of authors who might interest you, if you don’t know of them already.
Coral Bracho - It Must Be a Misunderstanding - new and selected poems - Carcanet - Spanish and English.
I obviously can’t understand the Spanish, but it might be useful for you to see the parallel texts.
Bracho’s language is hypnotising and in the publication I’ve mentioned there are examples of both her earlier work and later work. A Mexican poet, born in 1951, she became the cornerstone of contemporary Mexican poetry. Even more interestingly, in the context of your work, Bracho managed to go from a symphony of sound language to a succinct simplicity.
From:
In this Dark Tepid Mosque
I know of your body: the reefs,
the scattering birds,
the light sought and unsettled (on your candescent thighs incited by rain), of your surge:
I know your thresholds as though they let me go to the edge of this roomy, murmurous,
tepid mosque; as though they wove me (your dark suave scent) into the heat of its naves.
(Your sour, impenetrable orchards) I know of your fountains, of your ripe and turbulent echoes, the luminous amplitude, fecund; of your mirror-bright dream, of your patios:…
to
Butterfly
Like a spinning coin
threaded to the sun
the butterfly catching fire
at the sweet basil flower.
You also mention Haiku. One of the best books I’ve ever read on Haiku is written by another Substack member, Jane Hirshfield.
The Heart of Haiku - Jane Hirshfield
It’s still available on http://Amazon.com as a kindle http://e.book, for less than a US Dollar.
And here to round this off, is a haiku poem that is one of my absolute favourites:
after the snowfall…
deep in the pine forest
the sound of an axe
You end most of your texts with what I’d call an italicised attuning. A kind of resonant isolation that creates in your text or, as I see them, a final lingering note of a musical score:
the sound of an axe in the Haiku above is doing exactly the same as your:
how to hold it
like an answer
I can keep
I can’t name
As you said:
But the Kasu of small wounds asks for something else. Not minimalism in the sense of white walls and Scandinavian furniture, but a minimalism where silence carries what words cannot.
Yes! I am sure many others will agree with me, when I say that you are achieving that.
Just keep going – at your own pace.
I could go on here, but will continue elsewhere.
Best, Chris.
I won't take your words for granted, I'll take them with me. Thank you 💜
i like the pacing in your poem, it leaves room for individual interpretation & evokes feeling like you said you wanted it to. i felt a pit in my stomach reading it! & the way you mentioned having a different writing style in other languages is interesting, this was something i actually thought about today bc i’ve been learning italian lately and i’m excited to see how my way of speaking develops or the way my personality expresses itself thru that language
Would have never guessed English is your second language. 🤯
What a compliment! Thank you!
Great Article letting someone watch you work through your thoughts and work process.
The struggle of expression that is so deeply human.
This line is the best in this piece
A poem that moves the reader depends on intentional choices: words, pauses, spacing, and the images it evokes.
It immediately shows you know what you are talking about, it gives you authority while in it of itself swinging wonderfully.
The Atmosphere of this piece let’s you sit by the river, watching you shave away at your craft.
Enjoyed the feeling it gave me.
Appreciate your feedback very much! Thank you
Enjoyed your thoughts. Years ago I lived in Spain and wrote a few poems in Spanish so I could relate. I would like to suggest however, that a poem can hold more than words or language. Some of my favorites are Rilke and Rumi…. So I will never appreciate their original versions…. but wow the “idea” that the translation conveys still floors me.
I fully agree. I'm just in love with language. But with this new style I focus more on 'images' and 'emltions' than words
Look forward to reading…. it’s funny… I believe English has a bigger dictionary? But I love the romantic languages.. much more expressive.. a Spaniard told me once English sounds like someone trying to speak while chewing gum 😊
Hahaha I actually don't feel that way at all. I'm enjoying the journey, english is a lovely language to me
Wow I never thought about how if you could speak different languages that it could feel like having to approach the way your write differently 🤔 I only speak English but I’ve always found it deeply impressive that people around the world can speak multiple languages.
It's fascinating actually, because a new language almost forces you to think differently by immersing yourself in a new culture.
By speaking differently you start acting differently. It's almost magical
I would leave that first piece as is! Being able to reflect on your growth is so personal and so healing. I am in awe of your ability to write in two languages!
Thank you very much! That means a lot to me..
Powerful reflection and insight. Look forward to reading more from you, Poet!
kasu! i understand you deeply. my first language is in spanish,
and i wanted to write in english
because writing in english i feel different…
words suddenly flow
out of nowhere…
i am sure there are traces of my spanish voice in my writings
however,
i also believe that
that is exactly what makes it beautiful
different
raw and unique…
and also, deep..
you are doing amazing! i am so proud of you!
I appreciate you! You're precious. I'll do my best to support you 💜
thank you so much! i appreciate you!
Lovely and honest post. I don’t think you should give up the novel either. Just some things to think about. A novel can be 150 pages long- not 1,500. Also - you start small with a novel. Grab a piece of paper and make a collage or list of things you are passionate about. Don’t hold back - it can be anything. Topics you would like to voice your opinions about, arenas you find interesting (ex: sports, hospitals, courthouses, coffee shops, Wall Street…). Anything from favorite colors to things you passionately HATE! Be completely open. Absolutely anything. Catch phrases. Quotes or song lyrics you love. And what might start to happen is you might start to magically lift a story (even a very tiny one) from all of these different words/topics. Give yourself time. Don’t rush it. This could work for poems too! What goal would you love to see a character or characters achieve and what would get in their way to achieve them? It’s a good exercise because you are starting from a point of passion. Continued luck and creativity and inspiration.
Adore this advice. Will definitely try that!