Rhythm that Survives, Rhythm that Saves

It is a universally respected truth that a translator of literature is simultaneously a translator of cultures. A translator of cultures is a tragic figure, condemned to failure from the start. The more self-conscious the translator, the more inevitable the failure. A translator, to evoke a well-known metaphor, is a guide in a labyrinth. If I were to speak from my own experience, I would add that this guide is blind. I say this not to demand respect or admiration for translators (especially since I am trying to be one), but to ask for mercy on their behalf.

It goes without saying that a culture begins with an act of borrowing, for which translation is an instrument. To give an example, one could refer to the ancient Roman culture, which was based on the Greek one, or the culture of the European Renaissance, which derived from both. Translation is an instrument of a dialogue, and dialogue is probably the most important of translation's roles. The art of translation, like all literary art, works according to its mission, which is to fight against the logic of the world. And the logic of the world is not the logic of dialogue but the logic of confrontation.

African-American poetry is a significant contribution to such cross-cultural dialogue, and its translation into Polish is a good illustration of this fact. There are many reasons for which Yusef Komunyakaa's poetry is important for Polish literature, and I will discuss them briefly below.

Yusef Komunyakaa's poetry fully (which means perfectly) carries out the discourse of the excluded. Historically, Polish literature knows the problem of exclusion and its literary realizations. We know the discourses of sexual, ethnic, national, or religious minorities. However, at the moment, these discourses are in a state of hibernation. All we have to do is goad them into waking. The language of protest that we can find in African-American poetry might be a good pattern for us to follow, and good encouragement.

Yusef Komunyakaa's poetry is also an execution of the discourse of liberation, or freedom. Polish poetry has a lot to learn from this discourse, because even when it revolts against many kinds of oppression, it still remains trapped by them.

Nevertheless, the poetry of Yusef Komunyakaa does more than meet the moral challenges of our time. This poetry is also a celebration of rhythm. Let me explain this further: put simply, a poem consists of meaning and rhythm. The meaning is a reflection of the rhythm. A poem, therefore, derives from rhythm. And rhythm itself derives from repetition. Repetitiveness is the rule of the world; the world exists only because it repeats itself. Thus, Komunyakaa's poetry is connected with the things of highest importance because it demonstrates (by its own structure) the mystery of the world's existence: the world consists of repetitions with variations. Paradoxically, this perfect rhythm can easily be noticed by non-English speakers, who can read Komunyakaa's poems, focusing only on their sounds. Can English readers do this as easily?

The fact that Komunyakaa's poetry depends so much on rhythm is a constant worry to the translator. The rhythm seems to be the thing most easily lost in translation. Translation becomes even more difficult when one wants to work with those of Komunyakaa's poems that put the rhythm into traditional forms, like couplets or quatrains. This is the challenge I had to face while translating his "Seven Deadly Sins."