DaRK PaRTY ReVIEW
::Literate Blather::
Monday, June 11, 2007
Poem: Waiting for the Other Sword to Drop

By: Rebecca Traquair


like any self-respecting fangirl, I’ve quibbled over translation before

I suspect, for instance, that Japanese, unlike English

doesn’t distinguish the finer distinctions

between elves, fairies, pixies

but then, I know no word for kitsune

but kitsune


the publishers promised to preserve the manga feel

leave the art inviolate, to bring us the whole story


so back to front we read between the lines, fill in the blanks

gloss over our disagreements… to absorb story

told in blood and meat and bone and steel, love and betrayal

paper and ink… magic

I believe story is universal; I live for this


the western audience made it through ten issues without apparent issue

before the publishers broke their word

as though we readers can’t recognize hoof-beats, wind, or steel on steel

we can’t imagine the armour clanks, spurting squelching entrails,

or the roar of demon-gods, not angry, but hungry

at least, not without a little starred box to translate each sound


for the sake of the story, I’ll swallow this outrage

maybe I should have known better than to trust the publisher

to trust their audience

to understand the parts that should be left out


(Regular DaRK PaRTY Contributor Rebecca Traquair is a poet living in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.)


Read Rebecca's poem The Last Visible Dog



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Posted by GFS3 at 1:41 PM.
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