Translation Abdication
by ARHuelsenbeck

Her face is so small:
She is supernatural, tipsy,
chronological, scriptural.
On board animals electric,
aerial apes
impregnate campers irate.
Sterilize my metro;
I am kaput.

My old incisors desperate
to dismantle Louie.
It’s peculiar to care. Ignite tots,
yes, excrete a piece of cauldron.
Accompany your sputum with my sweet relief.

Mementos, your turnstyle civilization
pulses delicate, increase sippy
fun oceanful.

My mama and her valve tutor,
mammal feral
total menu and universal sperm.

I’m glad serpents are ramen,
my insipid arches are cartilage,
my door posts are vulnerable,
my inner buns ornithological and
chameleon.
Gentle admiral may send extras
in prey multi experiments.
Animal rationales
are parasites in prey multi-
prototypical abandonment,
pulse in “miscarry ain’t crème.”

(Pneuma may recognize an attack.
Derive your ramifications, instinctual
bye-bye, the impediment so real your ma’s
lace…)

I am the first protein; see my molecular
candy. I am the first virus, bacteria, and the
first algae and protozoa; ah poor me.

Poet’s note: Today’s prompt is Find a poem in a language that you don’t know, and perform a “homophonic translation” on it: try to translate the poem simply based on how it sounds.

The inspiration for my poem is the beginning of the Romanian poet Magda Carneci’sPoemul Ecologic (3).