As soon as I posted yesterday, my writer's block got bored and vanished (probably trying its power with another slicer). My attention free to wander and mind relaxed to play again, I instantly got an idea for today's post: combining Multilingual Friday and Book Spine poetry.
I'll try my best with translation but it's harder than I thought.
Novels, the first one is Estonian and others are translations that might have completely different titles in English.
Vaikne ookean
Kuidas vaadata vett
Mida siit näha võib
Sellised väikesed asjad
Kõik mu mured mannetud
Kustunud mälestuste saar
Silent ocean*
How to watch water
What can you see from here
Such little things
All my worries feeble
The island of extinguished memories
*can also translate into Pacific Ocean
Pimeduse tunnil
Sügaval elu hämaras
Janu on kõikidel üks
Paranemine
Aga armastusel on metsalinnu süda
Mu tiivad on mu juured
During the hour of darkness
Deep in the dusk of life
Thirst is the same for everyone
Healing
But love has the heart of a forest bird
My wings are my roots
And one super short in English for fun:
I will judge you by your bookshelf
Books make home
I love you my dears and would never judge you. Hug!
I love this post! ihaven't done book spine poetry in ages. I will need to have my students try it this year. I love the spines with translations -- a wonderful twist!
ReplyDeleteI do enjoy this type of poetry and am so glad you introduced it to me several years ago. I particularly love the poetry book titles. That can so easily be turned into a theme for a story. arjeha
ReplyDeleteThis was lots of fun to read and made me smile! Thanks for including the translations.
ReplyDeleteIt remains a source of genuine amazement to see how alternative arrangements of familiar letters can yield thousands of different languages, each with their own rules and sounds. Thank you for sharing your spine poems which, because I can see the words on books, leads me to the false impression that I *should* be able to understand what's written. :-)
ReplyDeleteOh, Terje, so many smiles with this sweet post. Your translated book titles are so amazing, and it was fascinating to look at them and have absolutely no understanding of Estonian. The short English spine poem and your kind commentary make me happy. Lovely #multifri post!
ReplyDeleteOh, this is lots of fun! I love it - and I like that you translated, which I know is harder than it seems!
ReplyDeleteSo much fun! I haven't created any book spine poetry this year. Maybe I'll take a look at the library bag of picture books we brought along on our trip. I love Gary Snider, but don't know the other book.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful language, Terje. Thanks for writing and translating poetry for us.
Thanks for sharing your language today and your translations.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous comment is Ramona.
ReplyDelete