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Being a poet

You can be a poet without realising it,
full of rhymes and accents,
syncopated rhythms and sonnets,
and never write a single verse.

You can be a poet and one fine day
someone reveals this secret to you,
confronts you with the truth of your existence
and, without intending it, helps you to create.

You can be a poet among pouts,
among spittle, insults and slatings,
among indifference and torture,
among the devastation of a bombardment.

You can be an imprisoned poet,
the victim of shyness and despondency,
your alienation is your executioner
and your fear of writing, your jailer.

You can be a poet and hide it,
as if it were a defect to be dealt with,
censor what you write, not read it,
because it makes the real unbearable.

You can be a poet for one night,
In the hours before your execution,
your pencil can be a powerful weapon
and your verses pierce your silence.

You can be a poet in the sewers
write poetry in landfills
on scraps of paper and packaging
on rusty iron, on rubbish.

You can be a poet among thieves
among wild animals, howling and vermin,
you can write to escape your demons
or to survive between their claws.

You can be a poet in literary cliques
gaining laurels and obsolete prizes,
your mediocre poetry may sustain you
but nobody would care if you were dead.

English translation by Paul Archer of 'Ser Poeta' by Conchi da Silva.

Ser poeta

Se puede ser poeta y no saberlo
estar lleno de rimas y de acentos
de ritmos sincopados, de sonetos,
y jamás escribir un solo verso.

Se puede ser poeta y que un buen día
alguien te lo revele cual secreto,
te enfrente a la verdad de tu existencia
y te ayude a crear, sin pretenderlo.

Se puede ser poeta entre pucheros,
entre babas, insultos y palizas,
entre la indiferencia y la tortura,
entre la destrucción de un bombardeo.

Se puede ser poeta encarcelado,
víctima del pudor y el desaliento,
que la marginación sea tu verdugo
y tu miedo a escribir, tu carcelero.

Se puede ser poeta y esconderlo,
como si de un defecto se tratase,
censurar lo que escribes, no leerlo,
pues te hace lo real insoportable.

Se puede ser poeta de una noche,
de horas previas al fusilamiento,
que tu lápiz sea un arma poderosa
y tus versos traspasen tu silencio.

Se puede ser poeta en las cloacas
escribir poesía en vertederos
en restos de papeles y embalajes
en hierros oxidados, en desechos.

Se puede ser poeta entre ladrones
entre fieras, aullidos y alimañas,
que escribas para huir de tus demonios
o para subsistir entre sus garras.

Se puede ser poeta literato
de laureles y premios obsoletos,
que tu poesía mediocre te sostenga
aunque a nadie le importe si estás muerto.

Listen to Conchi da Silva reading her poem 'Ser Poeta'.

For more translations of poems by Conchi da Silva, go to Translations.

 Translations
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