Thom Gunn

Considering the snail, a poem by Thom Gunn translated into Spanish and shared with us by the Spanish poet Juan Manuel Romero.

CONSIDERING THE SNAIL

The snail pushes through a green

night, for the grass is heavy

with water and meets over

the bright path he makes, where rain

has darkened the earth's dark. He

moves in a wood of desire,

pale antlers barely stirring

as he hunts. I cannot tell

what power is at work, drenched there

with purpose, knowing nothing.

What is a snail's fury? All

I think is that if later

I parted the blades above

the tunnel and saw the thin

trail of broken white across

litter, I would never have

imagined the slow passion

to that deliberate progress.

PENSAR EL CARACOL

El caracol avanza a empujones

por una noche verde, pues la hierba

está cargada de agua y pone trabas

a la brillante senda que da forma,

donde la lluvia ha oscurecido

la tierra oscura.

Se desplaza en un bosque del deseo,

moviendo apenas las antenas ocres

cuando caza. No sé decir

qué fuerza le espolea a su labor,

sin saber nada, ahí empapado a posta.

¿Cómo entender la furia

del caracol? Lo único

que pienso es que si luego

no hubiera separado la hojarasca

sobre el túnel ni hubiera visto

el reguero delgado

de baba blanca y quebradiza,

no habría imaginado nunca

una pasión tan lenta

para este lánguido progreso.

(Translated by Juan Manuel Romero)

Thom Gunn (1929 –2004) fue un poeta británico nacionalizado estadounidense. Incluido en el grupo “The Movement” junto a Larkin, Davie, Jennings, Enright y Amis, su estética se alejó pronto de la reacción antivanguardista que protagonizaron estos poetas. Gunn romperá con el neoclasicismo de la poesía inglesa del momento evolucionando hacia una cierta heterodoxia underground, que lo llevaría a ser finalmente reconocido como una de las voces maestras de la literatura gay y la contracultura americana. Su extensa obra, en la que destacan títulos como Fighting Terms (1954), The Sense of Movement (1959) o The Man with Night Sweats (1992) ha recibido múltiples premios y está recogida ampliamente en las antologías inglesas y norteamericanas.

Thom Gunn (29 August 1929 – 25 April 2004), born Thomson William Gunn, was an Anglo-American poet who was praised both for his early verses in England, where he was associated with The Movement and his later poetry in America, even after moving toward a looser, free-verse style. After relocating from England to San Francisco, Gunn, who became openly gay, wrote about gay-related topics—particularly in his most famous work, The Man With Night Sweats in 1992—as well as drug use, sex, and topics related to his bohemian lifestyle. He won numerous major literary awards.

From Wikipedia.