i.e. the point of catastrophe
the original one brought to civilization.
On 2/18/07, Pierre Joris <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> On Feb 16, 2007, at 3:00 AM, Alison Croggon wrote:
>
> > The original, sadly, is beyond me.... But Reynolds - and Mandelstam -
> > both quote the poem extensively in English and Italian, so us
> > barbarians can get a feel for what Dante's doing with the original
> > language. Reynolds uses the Sayers translation, as I suppose she
> > would, which strikes me as serviceable and faithful, but somehow
> > doesn't have the vim of others.
> >
> > All the best
> >
> > A
> >
> figured I may as well insert my little Dante poem here (it was the
> opener for the show I did with nicole peyrafitte 2 nights ago here
> in Albany) even thoguh it isn't a snap (though it was, i guess, at
> some time) & has been published before:
>
> This afternoon Dante
> will be ex-
> pelled from Florence —
> a good thing as how could he
> have written so well
> on the far-away imaginary ex-
> ile of the comically divine
> realms had he not known
> what it meant to walk
> over a cold January day's
> ground frost, clod-
> breaking, heart beating,
> from one city to another
> — to come to
> this: that exile
> is but the next step you take
> the unknown there
> where your foot comes
> down
> next, in
> heaven or on earth
> exile is when you can still
> lift a foot
> exile is when you are not
> yet dead.
>
>
> enjoy,
> Pierre
>
>
> =================================================
> "Play what you don't know" -- Sun Ra
> =================================================
> Pierre Joris
> 244 Elm Street
> Albany NY 12202-1310
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> http://pierrejoris.com
> blog:http://pjoris.blogspot.com/
> =================================================
>
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