I'll bet you didn't know it, but Ezra Pound and I recently collaborated on a new poem. Surprising, yes, especially considering Pound died in 1972, 4 years before I was born, but it is true.
This collaboration was facilitated by Translation Party. Whenever you translate something from one language to another you lose (or gain) something, and no translation is ever exact; so this website takes your English input, translates it to Japanese, then back to English, then back again, and so on and so forth, until it finally comes upon a "literal" translation -- some variation of the terms that will produce the same text over and over again -- no change in meaning. Equilibrium.
So, I entered in Pound's famous "In A Station Of The Metro" to the Translation Party Engine, and was surprised at the results I got. Often, one's input becomes absurdly hilarious once run through the ringer; other times, it is rather dull. But Pound's words retained something of their poetry. It isn't exactly publication worthy, but it has a certain something about it. Perhaps this is a testament to Pound's genius, perhaps to his ability to capture something of Eastern spirituality in his poetry, or perhaps it is just a happy coincidence. Whatever the case may be, I like the product, so I thought I'd share it.
So, here it is, my collaborative poem with Ezra Pound:
"In A Station of the Metro '09"
The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.
These ghost face in the crowd; wet, petals of black branches.
These ghostly face in the crowd; Wet, black branches petals.
These look like a ghost in the crowd; Wet, black branches petals.
Among the crowd, these look like a ghost; Wet, black branches petals.
In the crowd, like a ghost, look for these; Wet, black branches petals.
Like a flock of ghosts for those, look, wet black branches petals.
A flock of these ghosts, and, like the petals of the wet black branches.
And the flock of ghosts, like the petals of the wet black branches.
The herd of ghost-like petals wet black branches.
Petals wet black branches, like a flock of ghosts.
Wet black branches of a herd of ghost-like petals.
Wet, black branches, like a flock of ghosts of the petals.
Wet, black branches, like a flock of ghosts petals.
Wet, black branches, like a flock of ghosts petals.
-- EP & RP
