The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Elusive Trope's picture

    International Relations

    By Elusive Trope on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 12:52am |

    A person I "met" on Tumblr because I reblogged his photographs, Bouwe Brouwer, from the Netherlands [here is his Tumblr site Pjotr's pics ] got into a discussion now that we are friends on Facebook, he does a lot of creative writing, most of which hasn't been translated into English. But he shared with me some of his haiku poems,many of them translated into English.

    Here is one:

    oude stadsmuur

    vervaagde namen

    van tieners

    old city wall

    faded names

    of teenagers

    Comments

    Really nice. 


    by trkingmomoe on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 10:24am

    It's always so difficult translating haikus from one language to another.  You work hard to recreate the emotional feel, but then the syllable count is off.  Work out the syllable count and the words often sound forced or plodding.  

    Not sure if this is what your friend was going for, but how's this?

     

    On old City walls,
    you can find faded names of
    former teenagers.
     


    by MrSmith1 on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 2:15pm

    An old city wall;

    faded names of teenagers

    suspended in time.

    I hope your friend, and you, can appreciate the inspiration his words provide ...


    by barefooted on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 2:52pm

    Nicely done, Missy!   I think I prefer your translation to mine..
     


    by MrSmith1 on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 3:17pm

    I direct this message to you Mr. Smith...

    My favorite song when I was 16?

    And the words of the

    Prophets are written on the

    Subway walls and tenement...

    (whatever)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zLfCnGVeL4

    Old folks do not usually engage in graffiti

    Young folks, angry and artistic (at least sometimes, hahahah) young people.

    Oh but the caves of old, thousands and thousands of years ago give us the best graffiti of all time!

    THE CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y0guHHDN5Q&list=PLoDXjsS-wI0zvqoy3h5PSx3JGdaf-LHv0

    What do old folks accomplish?

    The Grave-yards of rusted automobiles. hahahah (Thanks Arlo)

    There are so very many ways to express an idea or despair, really.

    Sorry, you just stoked my fire, I guess.

    No song today, I would have to add seven songs to seven wrongs?

     

     


    by Richard Day on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 4:00pm

    Too Old to write graffiti?!   These prisoners in the Tower of London might disagree!  hahaha


     

     

     


    by MrSmith1 on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 5:00pm

    Let me explain, as if I could ever explain

    That graffiti is written in stone.

    Real Graffiti is written spontaneously, by young and angry folks.

    hahahahaha

    I AM HERE.

    I AM RELEVANT

    Hell old folks already know they are here and they are irrelevant. hahahahahah

    Okay, so Cave Paintings of old were painted under the auspices of shamans.

    That is all I got, I ran out of energy. hahahaha


    by Richard Day on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 5:09pm

    I was thinking about this a lot on my ride home tonight.  You're right, graffiti is for the young.  Or it should be.  It is a desire to establish the fact that "I am here" and is about disrupting the status quo and demanding to be paid attention to.   

    At my point in life, I don't want to tear up the established order of the world, I want to put it back together,  to heal the wounds, to make order again out of the chaos.   I no longer enjoy hard angles or frenzied people with overflowing anxieties.  I seek serenity and joy, peace and happiness, not loud clashing dissonance and angry music ... unless, of course, it is in a context of which I am familiar and / or comfortable with.   It's all about context when it comes to loud, angry, dissonant, anxiety-driven things.  Graffiti rarely comes with such context.  Paintings by Basquait I suppose, come pretty close, as does Banksy's work. 
     


    by MrSmith1 on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 9:19pm

    I am biased. But this is magnificent. hahahha

    Well done.

    You have your own blog site, as far as I am concerned.

    Tomorrow is Friday but so is Friday next.

    Go on with this subject. Take your time.

    Maybe, just maybe, the next generations should not be as comfortable. hahahahah

    I LIKE THIS!


    by Richard Day on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 11:03pm

    We were coming into Verona, Missouri, on the way to the cemetery where my husband's grandmother is buried, when we saw graffiti under a concrete bridge.  It read:  Have a Nice Day!  Our kids were young then and they thought it was hilarious.  I was thoroughly charmed.


    by Ramona on Fri, 06/19/2015 - 10:09am

    When I traveling back from Indiana to Washington, shortly after entering Illinois, someone had spray painted in the middle of train bridge over the highway "Read More." That was cool, but it had the added factor that to get the spot where it was put was a little treacherous.


    by Elusive Trope on Fri, 06/19/2015 - 2:52pm

    I'll pass it on to him. :)


    by Elusive Trope on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 11:41pm