Afrikaans would be my guess, or failing that, Dutch.
Re the etiquette of appropriation, it sure seems strange that the guy
wouldn't try to get in touch with you, especially as s/he presents it as a
translation of you, and doesn't try to pass it off as his/her own. Maybe
there was some obscurity in the contact info provided by the original
source?
P
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to
> poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Richard Jeffrey Newman
> Sent: 23 June 2006 14:43
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: A question for the list
>
> I wonder if this has happened to anyone else: Yesterday, I
> was, just for the hell of it, googling the title of my new
> book of poetry, The Silence Of Men, and I discovered a site
> on which someone--I don't know who--had translated the title
> poem of the book into a language I do not recognize and
> posted it to a website that seems to be an international
> collection of poetry in translation. This person did not take
> the poem from the book itself, but rather, complete with the
> author's photo I had used, from an online literary journal
> that had published it a couple of years ago. No one ever
> contacted me about this and, as far as I know, no one ever
> contacted the editor of the literary magazine either. On the
> one hand, I am quite flattered; on the other, it's a little
> disturbing to me that someone would publish the translation
> without even contacting me. I am curious what other people's
> reactions are. Also, I am hoping someone can tell me what the
> language of the translation is and, if it’s not too much
> trouble, where on the website I can find the email of the
> person who translated it so that I can contact him or her. I
> am, of course, also curious to know if the translation is any good.
>
> Here's the translation, which you can find at
> http://www.hetprieeltje.net/oogvanderoos/gednewman.html:
>
> DE STILTE VAN MANNEN
>
> Een man waarvan ik nooit eerder had gedroomd wandelt mijn
> appartement binnen en neemt plaats in de groene fauteuil
> waarin ik altijd zit om te schrijven. Hij houdt in zijn
> linker hand een grote stijve penis vast die hij stilletjes
> neerzet op de vloer.
> De fallus begint te walsen op muziek
> die ik niet kan horen. Met zijn scrotum, testikels en benen
> afgesneden tot aan de knieën.
> wil ik weten waarom dit misvormd
> manswezen naar mij werd gebracht. Ik kijk op maar mijn gast
> is verdwenen. Zijn orgaan, schokkend met korte spasmen zoals
> een hoestende oude man, spreidt zich uit in een plas van dun bloed.
> De stilte tussen ons is de stilte van mannen.
>
> (The silence of men)
>
> Bron: The Pedestal Magazine
>
> (geplaatst op 25-04-2005)
>
> *************************************
>
> Here's the original:
>
> The Silence Of Men
>
>
> A man I’ve never dreamed before walks
> into my apartment and sits in the green
> chair where I do my writing. He carries
> in his left hand a large erect penis
> which he places silently on the floor.
> The phallus begins to waltz to music
> I cannot hear, its scrotum a skirt;
> its testicles, legs cut off at the knees.
> I want to know why this disfigured
> manhood has been brought to me. I look up, but my guest is
> gone. His organ, deflating in short spasms like an old man
> coughing, spreads itself in a pool of shallow blood.
> The silence between us is the silence of men.
>
> Thanks--
>
> Rich Newman
> www.richardjnewman.com <http://www.richardjnewman.com/>
>
>
>
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