Melvin Rosales of Guatemala has been kind enough to work with me on translations of some of my poems into Spanish.  Here are two of them, with the original poems first and the translations following.

The Taos Egg Incident

I have been one
hit by an egg in Taos, New Mexico,
walking a two-lane, lightless
residential street at night,--
my black windbreaker splattered
with fragments of shell stuck on,
yolk and whites, my glasses too,
camera case, leg & shoe.

I blame an SUV
or rather a restless kid
in this beautiful one-paseo town,
cruising with his buddy
equipped to cure their boredom
with an egg, organic I suppose
(this is Taos, after all).  He threw
it at the first stranger passing by,
threw it hard as a baseball
just above my heart.
                                    --22 August 2005

El Incidente del Huevo de Taos

Yo he sido uno
golpeado por un huevo en Taos, Nuevo México,
caminando por una de dos carriles, sin luz
calle residencial en la noche, -
mi chubasquero negro salpicado
con fragmentos de concha pegado en,
yema de huevo y las claras, mis gafas también,
caja de la cámara, la pierna y zapato.
 
Yo culpo a un SUV
o más bien un chico inquieto
en esta hermosa ciudad de un paseo,
crucero con su amigo
equipado para curar su aburrimiento
con un huevo, orgánico supongo
(esto es Taos, después de todo). Arrojó
lo que pasa en el extranjero por primera vez,
tiró duro como una pelota de béisbol
justo por encima de mi corazón.
                                          --22 August 2005

Voices in the Wind

Three aspens again
framed by a window:
white bark & branches,
shivering green leaves
in the Taos wind.

Because you were here
to see them,
they mean more:
the adobe brown casita,
cottonwoods, magpies,
the rust-colored
clothesline post
shaped like a cross.

You can imagine
what I see
as I can imagine
what you see
as we hear each other
through the wind,
voices carried
into hand-held machines.

Voces en el viento

Tres temblónes de nuevo
enmarcado por una ventana:
cortezas blancas y ramas,
tiritando hojas verdes
en el viento Taos.
 
Debido a que estuvieras aquí
para verlos,
que quieren decir más:
el marrón adobe casita,
álamos, urracas,
el color rojizo
tendedero poste
la forma de una cruz.
 
Usted puede imaginar
lo que veo
que puedo imaginar
lo que se ve
como escuchamos unos a otros
a través del viento,
voces realizado
en máquinas portátiles.

--Copyright © Clifton Snider and Melvin Rosales, 2012

The following poems are also available in translations by Melvin Rosales on my website: Aspens in the Wind (scroll down to the third poem on the page; you will also find a translation into French of the same poem), St. Anthony's Church, and My Selena.  All of these and the two on this page are in my book, Moonman: New and Selected Poems, in the original versions.

My poem, "The Cave of Niaux," has twice been translated into French, once by Patrice Fauchier and once by Jean-Claude Frachon; see Jura Spéléo.  Other poems available in French are in the book, California Voices: The Translators' French Quarter, edited by Michelle Barany (CSULB, The Translators' French Quarter, 1994).

--Page copyright © Clifton Snider, 2012.

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Page posted on 9 December 2012