In Case of Fire in a Foreign Land: New and Collected Poems from Two Languages

Description

In the world of Chilean poet Ariel Dorfman, men and women can be forced to choose between leaving their country or dying for it. The living risk losing everything, but what they hold onto—love, faith, hope, truth—might change the world. It is this subversive possibility that speaks through these poems. A succession of voices—exiles, activists, separated lovers, the families of those victimized by political violence—gives an account of ruptured safety. They bear witness to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of personal and social damage in the aftermath of terror. The first bilingual edition of Dorfman’s work, In Case of Fire in a Foreign Land includes ten new poems and a new preface, and brings back into print the classic poems of the celebrated Last Waltz in Santiago. Always an eloquent voice against the ravages of inhumanity, Dorfman’s poems, like his acclaimed novels, continue to be a searing testimony of hope in the midst of despair. CONTENTS Like So Many Prefaces, This One Is Also Probably Superfluous By Way of Dedication: Community dot Com PART ONE: To Miss, Be Missed, Missing / Desaparecer First Prologue: Simultaneous Translation / Primer Prólogo: Traducción Simultánea Red Tape / Trámites She’s Losing Her Baby Teeth Now / A la niña se le están cayendo los primeros dientes Hope / Esperanza Corn Cake / Pastel de choclo His Eye Is on the Sparrow / No ha lugar Two Times Two / Dos más dos Last Will and Testament / Testamento Anniversary / Aniversario Identity / Identidad I Just Missed the Bus and I’ll be Late for Work / Acabo de perder el bus y voy a llegar tarde al trabajo FirstWe Set Up the Chairs . . . / Primero pusimos las sillas en posición The Other Compañeros in the Cell are Asleep / Los demás compañeros de la celda están dormidos I Don’t Know Where He Lives . . . / No sé donde vive. Nos hemos separado Nuptials / Nupcias Sometimes I See the Citroën . . . / A veces sucede que me cruzo con el Citroën Cost of Living / Costo de vida Correspondence / Correspondencia Chains / Cadena perpetua Sun Stone / Sol de piedra PART TWO: Poems I Wasn’t Going to Show Anybody / Poemas que no iba a mostrar a nadie Soft Evidence / Pruebas al canto Prologue: Parachute / Prólogo: Paracaídas Beggar / Pordiosero There Is NoWind to Ease the Flowers / No hay viento que alivie las flores Batteries Needed / Que venga yo mismo a cargar mi batería St. George / San Jorge Something More Than Lightbulbs / Algo más que ampolletas Drowning / Ahogos Maneuvers / Márgenes de maniobra Habeas Corpus / Habeas Corpus PART THREE: Undertow / Resaca Prologue: That Deafening Noise Is the Garbage Truck / Prólogo: Ese ruido ensordecedor es el camión de la basura Present (A Three Poem Cycle-Requiem) / Presente (Ciclo de tres poemas LastWaltz in Santiago / Último vals Occupation Forces / Ejército de ocupación Self Criticism / (Auto) crítica (móvil Something Must Be Happening to My Antennas / Algo debe de estar pasando con mis antenas The Telephone. Long Distance. (I) / El teléfono. Larga distancia. Malas Noticias The Telephone. Long Distance. (II) / El teléfono. Larga distancia. Malas Noticias Gracias / Gracias In Case of Fire in a Foreign Land / En caso de incendio en una tierra extraña FOUR EPILOGUES: Anything Else Would Have Tasted Like Ashes / Cuatro Epílogos: Para Que La Vida No Tuviese Sabor a Cenizas Cuatro Epílogos: Para Que La Vida No Tuviese Sabor a Cenizas Voices from Beyond the Dark / Voces contra el poder Problems with Doors / Problemas con las puertas Ten Minutes / Diez minutos Vocabulary / Abecedario Acknowledgments