Far Rockaway
του Iwan Llwyd (μτφρ. από τα ουαλικά, Robert Minhinnick)*
Though it's far away will you follow me down to Far Rockaway, Far Rockaway, its name sings golden as guitar strings or a street choir becoming an ocean or lovers who have turned in here off the night's turnpike, whispering over black coffee, gasoline and fine rain on their clothes, two moonwatchers touching fingertips, counting back the backroads' roadkill, certain there's been no one like them before.
Though it's far away will you follow me down to Far Rockaway, Far Rockaway, where stars change places above the bay and the air is filled with acid lullabyes, where graffiti paints its rainbow over every brownstone neighbourhood and even saturnalians have understood that soon they must turn home like rats under the subway track, and where the two of us walk city streets, carrying each other and our secrets.
And though it's far away will you follow me down to Far Rockaway, Far Rockaway where, as they're waiting for the 'A' train, the NYPD will write love songs about the good karma loaded in their guns, and the bards will vote on vowels from their barstools, mixing dew and Dewar's over left-handed chess, and all seek the consecration of a kiss today in Far Rockaway, Far Rockaway.
* Το Far Rockaway είναι μια γειτονιά της Rockaway χερσονήσου στο Queens της Νέας Υόρκης. Το παραπάνω ποίημα ανήκει στον ουαλό Iwan Llwyd, η δημοσιευμένη μετάφραση είναι του Robert Minhinnick από την ανθολογία έξι ουαλών ποιητών The Adulterer's Tongue (Carcanet Press, 2003). Οι φωτογραφίες τραβήχτηκαν από την Πηνελόπη Γερασίμου το χειμώνα του 2016-17.
