poetry in action features work by poets from around the world, translated into English.
It has three rallying cries:
Poets of the world, unite and take over!
Resist the oppressive constraints of good, publishable poetry established by mainstream literary venues!
Only poetry in translation, all the time!
Coming at you every month!
Translator Note:
Paloma Chen’s experimentation and variety of form fragments both language and the sense of self, drawing out her themes of identity across the languages of her Chinese heritage and that of her home in Spain. In translating her work, I sought to maintain her tone, introspective and ponderous or sharp with conviction, returning always to an unassailable rhythm. Most of all, I kept in mind the reclamation of an intimate space, the way pop culture that has objectified Chinese immigrants and their descendants is grasped, twisted, and turned back in Chen’s hands.
Paloma Chen is a journalist, cultural organizer, and poet from Valencia, Spain. In 2020, she won the Premio Nacional de Poesía Viva L de Lírica and in 2022 published her first collection of poetry, Invocación a las mayorías silenciosas, with Letraversal. Twitter: @chen_paloma / Instagram: @chenpaloma
Julia Conner is a student studying Spanish, Mandarin, and translation at Kenyon College. Twitter and Instagram: @jiwconner
poetry in action is an Action Books blog feature curated and edited by Katherine M. Hedeen (@kmhedeen) with web editing by Paul Cunningham.