I love Góngora as patron of translators. He could also be patron of
rogaine, because of the hair loss among those who attempt him.

If it's any consolation, I only know the term because a few Mexican poets
of my acquaintance used it.

An email is in to Kozer.

Mark

At 05:54 PM 5/20/2001 -0500, kent johnson wrote:
>This is really interesting (if somewhat embarrassing) to me, inasmuch as
>much of the work of Jaime Saenz, a Bolivian poet I've been translating for
>the past few years, is, by such definition, written in "versiculos"! His
>line is often run over as prose on the page, but the "verses" are set apart
>via spacing and indentation. (For example, see his "To Cross This Distance"
>at The Transcendental Friend [issue 14]
>http://www.morningred.com/friend/
>
>So here I am, the book to appear in a few months, admitting I didn't have
>the literary term for his signature form... Ay, San Gongora, compasivo santo
>de los traductores, le rogamos su amparo y piedad!
>
>Thanks Mark. And please get Kozer to allow you to share his comments, at
>least back-channel.
>
>Kent
>
>>From: Mark Weiss <[log in to unmask]>
>>To: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to poetry and
>> poetics <[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask]
>>Subject: Re: versiculo
>>Date: Sun, 20 May 2001 13:06:26 -0700
>>
>>Nope, the dictionary of the Rea Academia Española, generally accepted as
>>authoritative, has
>>
>>1. Cada una de las breves divisiones de los capitulos de ciertos libros, y
>>singularmente de las Sagradas Escrituras. 2. Parte del responsorio que se
>>dice en las horas canónicas, regularmento antes de la oración. 3. Cada uno
>>de los versos de un poema escrito sin rima ni metro fijo y determinado, en
>>especial cuando el verso constituye unidad de sentido.
>>
>>We can leave definition 2 out as not applicable. Definition 1, a verse as
>>in the numbered verses in the Bible, and 3, a free-verse line that
>>expresses a complete meaning, imply a degree of grammatical completeness
>>that we don't generally require for a line of verse. But I assume that the
>>term is used with all of the exactitude that we tend to use English
>>language terms, so that it probably means different things in terms of
>>practice to different practitioners.
>>
>>Early last week I received a poem via email to translate for a bilingual
>>reading. I paid special attention to the line-breaks, hoping to create in
>>the English a similar energy charge. After the reading I gave the poet a
>>copy of the translation (he had only seen it in email), at which point he
>>smiled and said "you know I wrote it in versículos." The line breaks whose
>>impact I had struggled to duplicate were artifacts of the electronic
>>transmission.
>>
>>Kent, I had intended to wait to answer your query about the difference
>>between versiculos and prose after consultation with that poet. But I post
>>this limited answer before we get too involved in a guessing-game. There'll
>>be more to follow.
>>
>>I'd gladly post the Spanish and English of the poem, altho it's not one of
>>his best, but until I have the proper lineation there's no point. I'll be
>>seeing the poet next Saturday. I'll try to squeeze lineation directions out
>>of him earlier by email.
>>
>>Limited time, unfortunately, so back to work. Two different public lectures
>>late in the week, for neither of which I'm particularly qualified. Some
>>people get a thrill out of bungee jumping. They should try something really
>>scary.
>>
>>Mark
>>
>>
>>At 06:38 PM 5/20/2001 +0100, you wrote:
>> >do not consult the Spanish Dictionary, but the Italian one and
>> >destructure the word "versiculo" as follows:
>> >versi (plural of "verso") ?
>> >culo ?
>> >
>> >or you could accept the translation from Latin "small verse".
>> >
>>
>
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