Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Miksi en ole maalari

En ole maalari, olen runoilija.
Miksi? Niin mielelläni olisin
maalari, mutta en ole.
Jouni Tossavainen's translation of Frank O'Hara's "Why I am not a Painter" is up at Karri Kokko's MUISTI | KIRJA.

I like how it sounds. & I know what it means. I can finally read Finnish!

3 comments:

Karri Kokko said...

You can finally read Finnish? You like how it sounds & you know what it means? In that case, here's a little something I've been working on all morning:

# 54 Veistosten tulevaisuus
omistettu Vincent Ponkalle

Se oli
sukeltavien
lintujen eleganssi
jota hän
ihasteli. Se
& se että meri
oli tehty
kivestä. Hän
sulki silmänsä
& antoi taivaan
soljua ylitseen. Pilviin
sisältyi
aavistus lumesta.

I've been working on a few others, but this came out naturally (aaahh, the sound of S's!) I like "The Lovers" a lot, for example, but "initial energy signature of love" and "indifferent faces in different settings" are giving me, obviously, a hard time. And they should. Back to you, Mark. -KK

César de Oliveira said...

i only understood "ole" and i have a feeling that it may not mean what i think it means :)

mark young said...

Managed to read & understand this, too, though the dedication & the #54 helped. Olé ergo olen.