This Translation Tuesday, we feature three poems translated from the Hiligaynon – a language that Asymptote is proud to feature for the first time. The poems that addres are from Jhio Jan Navarro’s first chapbook Pinili nga Binaylaybay, Piling Tula (Selected Poems) released by the independent publisher Kasingkasing Press in 2022 that is made up of poems in both Filipino and Hiligaynon. Hear about the process of translating these poems from translator Eric Abalajon.
“Jhio Jan Navarro’s first chapbook tackles themes of intimacy in its many forms and documenting injustices especially in his home province of Negros Occidental. Navarro’s language manages to be both idiomatic and straightforward. What comes out is somewhat familiar to English readers, but now made ironic or imbibed with deeper meaning. In ‘The Bird in The City’, the popular expression ‘the early bird catches the worm’ is revised to illustrate urban cruelty and precarity. While in ‘Figure of Death’, the event of winged termites flocking to a light source during the rainy season might bring to mind the story of the Fall of Icarus. However, probably more recognizable to Filipino readers is its affinity to a story attributed to Jose Rizal, with moths attracted to a lamp instead. The allegory of naive ambition has been transposed to a rural setting, the insects signaling ruin to the household. Lastly, ‘Ortaliz’ tenderly recounts episodes from childhood, but pays careful attention to the landscape of sugar cane plantations and its persistent contradictions. Navarro’s poems are crafted with intricate imagery, and written with urgency and sensitivity to place and its history. I tried to convey this in my translations, where beauty and perseverance are inseparable from death and violence.”
—Eric Abalajon
The Bird in The City
Perches
on branches
bearing red, flickering
light bulbs.
Hums
behind evening’s shade
since streets
are deafening
during the day.
Nests
in many building columns,
rafters, roofs yet
lays no eggs.
The bird in the city
flies straight into traps
and the one that remains
after others have gone
catches the most worms. READ MORE…