The Ofi Press Magazine
International Poetry and Literature from Mexico City
Poem by Bob Beagrie (UK)
The North East Special Edition: Displacement (Part 2)
Skaroniate
(Skaroniate a.k.a. Moses Carpenter was a member of the Mohawk Tribe, who was part of a travelling group led by a man called Sequah. He visited Middlesbrough in 1889 and died in the North Riding Infirmary after developing Pneumonia)
I know he understands 
he will never go home
in the sweating flesh-pot
of his frame
in this
world of physical things.
My Prairie Flower Oil,
my Snake Potion
will not chase away
the bad spirits
that seethe
in his chest,
filling his breath
with rattles and wheezes.
The spit-damp corn fetish
I hung on a string
around his neck
has not soaked up his fever.
And if I were to lift
his gleaming cornet
to my lips and blow
a long, low note
it wouldn’t restore him.
The nurses cradle
little hope
for him even seeing dawn,
and when he is gone
I will pay
for his funeral
in this
damp sooty town.
Oh, we shall have such
A Grand Spectacle:
A circus parade!
Bands will play
As we plant him in foreign soil.
But tonight a stinking
river-mist cloaks
the terraced, gas-lit streets
of tired workers
and from the alleys creep
moose, deer, beaver,
bear, wolf,
sliding through Cannon Park
to peer
into the windows
of this darkened ward,
where I watch
his fish-mouth gasp
and know
he understands
that he will ride home
in the beak
of a golden eagle –
(the boy
who walked
a different path)
already it circles
the steel works,
circles flare stacks.
I can almost
hear its wings flap.
Image: Gateshead, By Richard E. Hook
Traducción por Karenina Osnaya
Por Bob Beagrie
Skaroniate
(Skaroniate también conocido como Moses Carpenter, fue un miembro de la Tribu Mohawk, quien fue parte de un grupo viajante liderado por un hombre llamado Sequah, él visitó Middlesbrough en 1889 y murió en la Enfermería de North Riding después de desarrollar Pneumonia)
Yo sé que él entiende
que nunca volverá a casa
en la sudorosa olla de carne
que es su estructura
en este
mundo de cosas físicas.
Mi Flor Oleica de Pradera,
mi Poción Serpiente
no espantará
los malos espíritus
que bufan
en su pecho,
llenando su aliento
con cascabeles y jadeos.
El fetiche del maíz escupido
que cuelga en un hilo
alrededor de su cuello
no ha absorbido su fiebre.
Y si yo llevara
su brillante corneta
a mis labios y soplara
una larga y baja nota
eso no lo renovaría.
Las enfermeras acunan
poca esperanza
de que él vea el amanecer,
y cuando él se vaya
yo pagaré
por su funeral
en este
húmedo y cenizo pueblo.
Oh, tendremos
Grande Espectáculo:
¡Un desfile circense!
Bandas tocarán
Mientras lo plantamos en tierras extranjeras.
Pero hoy una apestosa
neblina de río cubre
las calles de terrazas iluminadas con el gas
de cansados obreros
y desde callejones trepan
alce, venado, castor,
oso, lobo,
deslizándose por el Parque Cañón
para mirar
en las ventanas
de este oscuro pabellón,
donde yo observo
su boca de pez jadear
y sé
que él entiende
que él cabalgará a casa
en el pico
de una águila dorada –
(el niño
que caminó
una ruta diferente)
ya encierra
el trabajo del metal,
casi puedo escuchar sus alas agitar.
About the poet
Bob Beagrie lives in Middlesbrough and is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at The University of Teesside. Publications include:Gothic Horror (Mudfog 1996), Masque: The Art of the Vampyre (Mudfog 2000),Huginn & Munnin (Biscuit 2002), Endeavour: Newfound Notes (Biscuit 2004,Perkele a collaborative bi-lingual pamphlet in English and Finnish, written with Kalle Niinikangas andYoik, (Cinnamon Press 2008), The Seer Sung Husband, (Smokestack Books, 2010)Glass Characters (Red Squirrel Press2011). His poems have also appeared in numerous magazines, anthologies and journals and has been translated into Finnish, Swedish, Spanish, Dutch and Urdu.
Karenina Osnaya is from Mexico City and is a regular contributor and translator to The Ofi Press.
Image: Gateshead, By Richard E. Hook