Velimir Khelbnikov’s “Incantation by Laughter”

Velimir Khelbnikov (1885-1922)

Huidobro (1893-1948)

In class today, we discussed two interpretations of "Canto VII" from Altazor by Chilean poet Vicente Huidobro. Here is an excerpt of Eliot Weinberger's English translation of the same:

Huidobro, Vicente. Altazor (revised edition). Middletown, CT: Wesleyan UP, 2004. Page 148.

If you didn't understand anything, that's not unusual for the reader of Altazor. A popular critical reading of "Canto VII" is that language is undone by the end of the poem, and the reader is left only with nonsensical sounds. An alternate reading, by Octavio Paz, is that Huidobro achieves, in a mystic way, the perfection of poetry, that the poetry "says without saying" (Vuelta. 107. pp. 13). Paz makes an interesting point, however, I'm not sure that I will take him at his word. After all, his interpretation is, perhaps, less of a reading of Altazor and more of a reflection or projection of his mystical ideas about poetry onto the poem. Still, there is room for that reading. Whatever "Canto VII" says, or means, if it does mean, it is a product of its time, poetry of the first wave of the 20th vanguard  movement. The reason I bring it up is that most of my readers are familiar with Latin American and Spanish literature, and have read all or part of Altazor (and I know that at least one of them hates the poem). But I bring up Altazor mostly to introduce something that is new to me.

One of the early 20th century vanguard movements that I am mostly ignorant of is the Russian Futurist movement. I learned a little bit about it today. One of the Russian Futurist poets is named Velimir Khlebnikov. Khlebnikov, along with another Russian poet, invented what they called Zaum.  According to Charles Bernstein (see here), "Zaum is not a poetry of opacity, as with much later sound/idiological poetry. [Velemir] "Khlebnikov beleived that zaum would cross the barrier of national languages, as a sort of proto-Esperanto." Read more about Zaum here, then watch this video.


My professor says that when he heard the poem in Russian (he doesn't speak Russian) he knew that the poem wasn't "in Russian," but something different. For him it was akin to Huidobro's "Canto VII" from Altazor. Here is a translation of the poem to English so you can read it. If you're a reader of Latin American poetry, hopefully the next time you read/teach Huidobro, his work will make a bit more sense to you and your students.

Incantation by Laughter

We laugh with our laughter

loke laffer un loafer

sloaf lafker int leffer

lopp lapter und loofer

loopse lapper ung lasler

pleap loper ech lipler

bloop uffer unk oddurk

floop flaffer ep flubber

fult lickles eng tlickers

ac laushing ag lauffing uk

luffing ip luppling uc

lippling ga sprickling

urp laughter oop laughing

oop laughing urp laughter

Заклятие смехом

О, рассмейтесь, смехачи!

О, засмейтесь, смехачи!

Что смеются смехами, что смеянствуют смеяльно,

О, засмейтесь усмеяльно!

О, рассмешищ надсмеяльных — смех усмейных смехачей!

О, иссмейся рассмеяльно, смех надсмейных смеячей!

Смейево, смейево!

Усмей, осмей, смешики, смешики!

Смеюнчики, смеюнчики.

О, рассмейтесь, смехачи!

О, засмейтесь, смехачи!

On another note, I've wanted to learn Russian since I was a teenager and fell in love with Russian classical music. I've never made time for that goal. Hopefully, eventually, I can get there. I think it would be fun to look at transatlantic poetic influence between Russia and Mexico. However, from what I can tell, there is little to none.

Nine

In many religious traditions, the number 9 is a sacred number. It is often associated with perfection and completeness. In mystic traditions it is a magic number, with many of the same connotations. A brief example: The Christian trinity is composed of 3 beings, and is believed to be perfect (3 is also a sacred number, in part because of its relationship to the number 9). However, multiplying 3 by 3 is the perfection of something already conceived as being sacred and holy, therefore it is still more holy, perfect, sacred, important, etc. The number 9 and its derivatives show up several times in the Bible. One instance is in Galatians 5:22 when Paul explains the fruits of the Spirit, he gives 9 characteristics: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." In Acts 3:1 we learn that the hour of prayer at the temple is the 9th hour. In Matthew 27, Luke 23, and Mark 15 we learn that the 9th hour was when Jesus "gave up the ghost" while on the cross. These are just a few examples from Christianity. If you look for it, you will find references to the number 9 in relation to important events/times in just about every religious/mystic tradition around the world, including Pre-Colombian traditions. I like numerology, I love counting versus in poetry and finding meaning in numbers, I see the number 9 and its derivatives in many sacred traditions of my own faith. However, today the number 9 is sacred and holy to me for another reason, it is the 9th anniversary of my marriage to my best friend and wife, Shaunielle. For me there is very little that is more sacred, complete, magic, and perfect than my time with her. I love you Shaunie, happy anniversary.

Detropia, the Modern City in Ruins

A friend sent me this article, which is a review a documentary about the decline of Detroit, MI, titled Detropia. The article was compelling enough that I want to see the film. The author of the article frequently uses the word "ruins" or variations of the same to describe neighborhoods, buildings, and factories that once were full of people, people that produced, but now lie empty, abandoned, decaying, in short, in ruins.

When a person visits a site of ruins, a common reaction is to ask the question ubi sunt? Where are they, those who were once here? Another common reaction is to look upon the ruin as an artifact of remembrance, a memento mori, "I too will die and decay, like the people that once were here, like those who have gone before." Of course, this notion of transience and cyclical time was ever present in the ancient mind. However, with the rise of modernity, as early as the 17th century, a more linear model of time began to be preferred (see the first chapter of Five Faces of Modernity by Matai Calinescu). Our modern/contemporary notion of progress is based on this idea of modernity. We, as a human race, are "moving forward," gaining "more knowledge" than those who came before us. However, one of the ugly secrets of modernity is that it will chew you up and spit you out. Especially in the age of consumerist capitalism, it should be no surprise that our cities don't continue to grow outward and upward, but begin to shrink once their usefulness is surpassed. One of the dirty secrets of the economic boom of the 90's is that we are only starting to feel the effects of outsourcing and the artificial growth that occurred when manufacturing costs decreased and wages/profits increased. The worst part is that those who benefited from shipping American manufacturing jobs elsewhere, are not the ones who will pay for their decision. The promises of corporations, that they will invest in a community and be committed to a community, are as hollow as buildings where their business once thrived. Those buildings, like the promises made to occupy them, are now vacant, decaying, in ruins. We should learn from the ancients, all things are cyclical. The promise of modernity, constant progress, is not necessarily cemented to a place. All modern places will eventually fall victim to cyclical time, they will fall into ruins and be buried by nature. Perhaps, in  a distant future, they will begin a new cycle, and grow once more.

Everything Makes Sense on the Bike

I am jealous of this photo. I want to ride shaded streets in Colorado, badly. This is a shot from the most recent post of a cycling blog I read, Manual for Speed. It's not always very eloquently written (I think some of the posts are written by pro-cyclists themselves) and sometimes it's obvious an entry wasn't edited very well. However, Manual for Speed captures one thing about cycling that I love, when I'm on the bike, everything makes sense. My head is clear, I seem to know my place in the universe, in life, at work and school, family stuff all seems simple, it just all makes sense. When I'm on the bike it seems that if I just approach everything in like I do on the bike, it will work out. So I need to keep moving forward, looking back every now and then to make sure I haven't left anyone form the group behind, checking my position relative to traffic, keep working hard, give it my best, maintain speed on the flats but conserve energy for the climb, work hard to the top of a hill  and over the crest and then tuck and coast, letting the air pass over me as gravity carries me home. But then I get off the bike, and I can't seem to keep the focus, my priorities get messed up, I don't eat right. I don't sleep enough, I get grumpy. Life happens. However, sometimes, the feeling of being on the bike lingers. Sometimes I am so focused I know exactly what I need to do, when to do it, and how to do it; I get that gratification that comes, not just from accomplishing something, but nailing it, and knowing that you are good at what you do, that you will make it, and that everything's going to be okay. Some days I'm a great husband and father, a great teacher, a good colleague, everything clicks, just like when I'm on a great ride. I know sports analogies are tired and cliche,  but I think there is a reason they surface so much. If athletes in other sports have an experience similar to mine when I ride, the sports analogy can't help but surface, because everything makes sense on the bike.

Relax...

...and listen to "It Never Entered My Mind," one of my favorite tracks by The Miles Davis Quintet. Sometimes I forget how soothing music can be. If I find myself agitated or stressed, usually it is, in part, because I haven't been listening to good music.

Miles Davis - Trumpet
John Coltrane - Tenor Sax
Red Garland - Piano
Paul Chambers - Bass
Philly Joe Jones - Philly Joe Jones