Sharon--

Thanks for the kind words about the poem. I would be curious to see the fair
use references when you have a chance. I'm really not interested in "going
after" the guy who translated my poem, because it is a form of homage, and
it's anyway not likely he's going to make any money off of it anyway. Still,
I'm not sure I would agree that translating a poem and posting it to a blog,
without any commentary, without any sense that the translation is supposed
to serve some purpose outside itself, i.e., to give a rough and ready sense
of the poem as part of a larger conversation, is the same thing as what a
blogger does when he or she posts a poem, unaltered, in its original
language, properly credited, and perhaps with commentary. The person who
translated my poem, after all, has made something new out of my poem, which
is very different from what bloggers do.

Like I said, I am not interested in "going after" this guy; but I do think I
would like to engage him in a conversation. At the very least, it might
result in a better translation.

And to everyone else on the list who responded, thanks, your input has been
very helpful.

Richard

-----Original Message-----
From: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to poetry and
poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of sharon brogan
Sent: Friday, June 23, 2006 2:01 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: A question for the list

On 6/23/06, Richard Jeffrey Newman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> 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



First, this is a really wonderful poem. Dense.

Second -- as a blogger -- I think this would easily fall under 'fair use' --
especially as it is appropriately linked and credited. The translator
(although I haven't gone to that page yet, as I won't be able to read it)
seems to be doing a selected list of poems for his/her readers. This would
be regarded as 'reviewing', I think. It is acceptable to select a poem or a
photo from a body of work for that purpose.

I can try to find some fair use references for you, if you like -- I have
them somewhere...

If this were me, I'd send a thankyou note and let it be.

-- 
~ SB   =^..^=

http://www.sbpoet.com
http://sb.chatango.com/
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