{"id":20656,"date":"2022-12-17T22:56:37","date_gmt":"2022-12-18T04:56:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/?p=20656"},"modified":"2024-05-22T04:57:41","modified_gmt":"2024-05-22T10:57:41","slug":"from-almost-obscene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/2022\/12\/from-almost-obscene\/","title":{"rendered":"From Almost Obscene\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Almost Obscene<\/span><\/i> is G\u00f3mez Jattin\u2019s English-language debut. It includes work culled from his sporadic chapbooks, written from 1980-1997, showcasing a jaggedness of tone, approach, and mindspace\u2014precisely the unpredictability that made G\u00f3mez Jattin an uncomfortable presence within mainstream Colombian literary circles. Ranging widely in content and form, what unites these poems is the uninhibited expression of a marginalized poetic voice; a decolonizing queerness that challenges the heteronormative as it defies the West\u2019s narrow definitions of queer poetics.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From the Translators\u2019 Note:<\/b><\/p>\n

As translators, the great question has been: what to do with the almost obscene? Ironically, the ideas such a description conjures up are far from the reality of these poems. Indeed, much of G\u00f3mez Jattin\u2019s work is not \u201cindecent\u201d in ways we might expect. Here, instead of an abundance of avant-garde experimentation or pornographic imagery, there is a sometimes disproportionate amount of overly simplistic sentimentality: commonplace, clich\u00e9, greeting-card, ordinary. To this degree then, G\u00f3mez Jattin\u2019s poetry is undeniably obscene; it is just de trop.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Our translations lean into the overmuch, aiming to privilege volatility instead of any kind of stability and to showcase a jaggedness of tone, approach, and mindspace, precisely the excessiveness and unpredictability that made G\u00f3mez Jattin an uncomfortable presence within conventional Colombian literary circles. In turn, we aspire to challenge narrow U.S. notions of queerness and the imperialist impulse to brand them as a global phenomenon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bringing G\u00f3mez Jattin\u2019s work into English has been an urgent task. Everything about this poet and his poetry is underrepresented. Translating him into English is, in part, about what\u2019s going on here. It is about representation\u2013\u2013widening it, challenging it\u2013\u2013especially with regard to conversations around queerness, race, intersectionality, and mental illness as well as the imperialist view of literature from Colombia. But it is also about what\u2019s going on there, in the poet\u2019s home country, where G\u00f3mez Jattin\u2019s work is rarely anthologized, virtually out of print, and rendered a literal footnote in a 600-page history of Colombian poetry. To translate him into English is to continue his fight for recognition, for a place for the perpetually out-of-place. It is to begin to right and write his legacy.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Katherine M. Hedeen and Olivia Lott<\/span><\/h5>\n

Almost Obscene<\/b><\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to hear what I say to my pillow
\n<\/span>your face blushing would be enough
\n<\/span>They are words close like my own flesh
\n<\/span>It feels the ache of your cruel memory<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you want me to tell you? \u00a0 You won\u2019t use it against me some day?\u00a0 I say:
\n<\/span>I\u2019d kiss that mouth slowly until it turned red
\n<\/span>And then to your sex the miracle of a hand going down
\n<\/span>at the most unexpected moment to brush against it
\n<\/span>as if by chance the same intensity swaying the sacred<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not wicked \u00a0 I just want to make you fall in love with me
\n<\/span>I\u2019m trying to be honest sick as I am
\n<\/span>to fall under the curse of your body
\n<\/span>like a river fearing the sea but always dying in it<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Serenade\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Come to the window love
\n<\/span>the sky\u2019s sparked a fandango
\n<\/span>in its distant bend \u00a0 And it\u2019s not so cold<\/span><\/p>\n

In the trees wind sets a moan to music
\n<\/span>It sounds like you tuned in to my pleasure
\n<\/span>looks like you leaning over my face
\n<\/span>whispers signs to me along the way
\n<\/span>\u201cNot yet\u201d or \u201cHurry up I can\u2019t wait\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Come to the window and stop being scared of your father\u2019s Colt 45
\n<\/span>I\u2019ve brought my own<\/span><\/p>\n

Can\u2019t you hear me? \u00a0 Don\u2019t you want our love
\n<\/span>to last one more day beneath the stars? \u00a0 Like gods
\n<\/span>Didn\u2019t you slip your old man some Valerian in his coffee
\n<\/span>so he\u2019d fall asleep and leave us to what\u2019s ours?<\/span><\/p>\n

I begged you like that and you had nothing to say \u00a0 Later on
\n<\/span>I found out they\u2019d sent you off on vacation to Paris
\n<\/span>days before \u00a0 So you\u2019d forget about me \u00a0 The town
\n<\/span>poet\u00a0 \u00a0 The one who\u2019d earned a sad
\n<\/span>reputation as a fag from your beloved body
\n<\/span>
\nDon\u2019t forget none of that matters to me
\n<\/span>It\u2019s just jealousy \u00a0 Just nonsense from your old man
\n<\/span>and his boring friends pussy tormentors
\n<\/span>and from those fake friends of yours who like my dick<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t forget that love\u2019s worth more
\n<\/span>than all of them put together \u00a0 We\u2019ve even fought
\n<\/span>against ourselves \u00a0 Our pleasure
\n<\/span>has all the masculine beauty they\u2019ve never known<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On What I Am<\/b><\/p>\n

In this body
\n<\/span>where life grows dark
\n<\/span>I live
\n<\/span>Soft belly and balding
\n<\/span>A few teeth
\n<\/span>And me inside
\n<\/span>like a convict
\n<\/span>Inside and in love
\n<\/span>and old
\n<\/span>I decrypt my hurt with poetry
\n<\/span>and the outcome is mostly painful
\n<\/span>Voices announce: here come your sorrows
\n<\/span>Voices crack: now your days are gone\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Poetry is our one companion
\n<\/span>Get used to her sharp edges
\n<\/span>She\u2019s all you\u2019ve got<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Translated by Katherine M. Hedeen and Olivia Lott<\/span><\/h5>\n
<\/h6>\n
Almost Obscene <\/span><\/i>is available via the <\/span>Cleveland State University Poetry Center<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/h6>\n

 <\/p>\n

Katherine M. Hedeen<\/b> is a translator and essayist. A specialist in Latin American poetry, she has translated some of the most respected voices from the region into English. Her latest book-length publications include <\/span>prepoems in postspanish<\/span><\/i> by Jorgenrique Adoum, <\/span>Book of the Cold<\/span><\/i> by Antonio Gamoneda, <\/span>Every Beat Is Secret<\/span><\/i> by Fina Garc\u00eda Marruz, <\/span>Almost Obscene<\/span><\/i> by Ra\u00fal G\u00f3mez Jattin, and <\/span>rebel matter<\/span><\/i> by V\u00edctor Rodr\u00edguez N\u00fa\u00f1ez. Her work has been a finalist for both the Best Translated Book Award and the National Translation Award. She is a recipient of two NEA Translation Grants in the US and a PEN Translates award in the UK. She is a Managing Editor for Action Books. She resides in Ohio, where she is Professor of Spanish at Kenyon College. More information at: <\/span>www.katherinemhedeen.com<\/span><\/a><\/h5>\n

\n<\/b>Olivia\u00a0Lott<\/b>\u00a0is a translator and literary scholar. She is the translator or co-translator of Ra\u00fal G\u00f3mez Jattin\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>Almost Obscene<\/span><\/i>\u00a0(CSU Poetry Center, 2022), Luc\u00eda Estrada\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>Katabasis<\/span><\/i>\u00a0(Eulalia Books, 2020), and Soleida R\u00edos\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>The Dirty Text<\/span><\/i>\u00a0(Kenning Editions, 2018). Her translations have received recognitions from Academy of American Poets, PEN America, and\u00a0<\/span>Words Without Borders<\/span><\/i>. She holds a Ph.D. in Hispanic Studies and is a specialist in the 1960s in Latin America, neo-avant-garde poetry and poetics, and translation studies. Her scholarly writing has appeared in or is forthcoming from\u00a0<\/span>PMLA<\/span><\/i>,\u00a0<\/span>Revista Hisp\u00e1nica Moderna<\/span><\/i>, and\u00a0<\/span>Translation Studies<\/span><\/i>. She is Visiting Assistant Professor of Spanish at Washington and Lee University. More information at\u00a0<\/span>www.oliviamlott.com<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost Obscene is G\u00f3mez Jattin\u2019s English-language debut. It includes work culled from his sporadic chapbooks, written from 1980-1997, showcasing a jaggedness of tone, approach, and mindspace\u2014precisely the unpredictability that made G\u00f3mez Jattin an uncomfortable presence within mainstream Colombian literary circles. Ranging widely in content and form, what unites these poems is the uninhibited expression of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":21060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2893],"tags":[4304],"genre":[],"pretext":[],"section":[],"translator":[],"lal_author":[4280],"class_list":["post-20656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adelantos-de-traduccion-y-novedades-editoriales","tag-numero-24-es","lal_author-raul-gomez-jattin-es"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20656"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34213,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20656\/revisions\/34213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20656"},{"taxonomy":"genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/genre?post=20656"},{"taxonomy":"pretext","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pretext?post=20656"},{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=20656"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/translator?post=20656"},{"taxonomy":"lal_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericanliteraturetoday.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lal_author?post=20656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}