A selection from the book The tumbler / El saltamartí (1963), by Joan Brossa. Written in 1963, the first catalan edition was published in 1969. Unfortunately, the first and second editions of the book were damaged by censorship.
The edition of the book available on Tenement press (England) from April 2021 will be the first full translation of any Joan Brosssa book to appear in english.
Six poems by Joan Brossa (from The Tumbler / El Saltamartí) in Hotel (May 2021)
Four poems by Joan Brossa (from The Tumbler / El Saltamartí) as read and recorded by Ona Balló Pedragosa in Tenement Press
Six poems by Joan Brossa (from The Tumbler / El Saltamartí) in Asymptote Poetry Journal (Dec 2019) (Launch press)
Ten poems by Joan Brossa (from The Tumbler / El Saltamartí) in Cordite Poetry Review
Sample El Saltamartí by Joan Brossa from The Tumbler / El Saltamartí
Führer
Duce
Caudillo
(A few words from poor devils
shitting in the stables.)
Führer
Duce
Caudillo
(Uns mots de pobres diables
que es cagaven pels estables.)
The poem
starts moving
and takes you into the mouth
of a tunnel.
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Here
the poem stops
to let you off and out
into the light of day.
El poema
es posa en moviment
i us fica per la boca
d’una foradada.
Dilluns
dimarts
dimecres
dijous
divendres
dissabte
Aquí
el poema es para
perquè baixeu i sortiu
a la llum del dia.
Referring to the Spanish Press law
provisionally set down in April 1936,
the minister said that the best praise
we could offer was that it had
remained in effect for so long.
Achi, Achoo, Achi!
Referent a la ley de Prensa espanyola,
dictada provisionalment l’abril de 1936,
el ministre va dir que el millor elogi
que li podíem fer era d’haver tingut
una vigència tan dilatada.
Atxim, atxum, atxim!
The object is to carve
the interior of a monumental
hole in such a manner
the emptiness adopts
the form of a statue.
Private property.
No trespassing.
Consisteix a esculpir
I’interior d’un forat
monumental de manera
que el buit afecti la
forma d’una estàtua.
Propiedad particular.
Prohibido el paso.
Together with May,
April seems to me the best
month of the year.
At Mateu’s place, some more
men fired
—by order of the syndicate—
for representing the interests
of the workers.
Here is the situation,
this poem is bound to the conscience
like a plant to the earth.
Junt amb el maig,
l’abril em sembla el mes
millor de l’any.
A can Mateu, uns altres
homes despatxats
— per ordre del sindicat —
per encarnar els interessos
dels obrers.
Vet aquí la situació d’aquest
poema lligat a la consciència
com una planta a la terra.
Here is a man
Here is a cadaver
Here is a statue.
Aquí és un home
Aquí és un cadàver
Aquí és una estàtua.
Why
so much fear?
It is enough to look at
a map of the world
to see the size of
cuba.
North America, so it seems, thus far,
has only one aim: it wants everything.
Foul wind
of Gregale.
¿Per què
tanta de por?
N’hi ha prou amb mirar
el mapa de l’hemisferi
i veure la grandària de
Cuba.
Nord-Amèrica, pel que es veu, fins ara,
només té un objectiu: ho vol tot.
Vent de gregal,
mal.
Poems translated from Catalan into English with the consent of Fundació Joan Brossa. El saltamartí by Joan Brossa © Fundació Joan Brossa, 1999.