Letter from the Editor Issue # 2
Sun and Moon / Sol y Lun
WELCOME to the second issue of Tameme, “Sun
and Moon,” the title of which is inspired by the two whimsical
poems by W.D. Snodgrass, “The Capture of Mr. Sun” and
“The Capture of Mr. Moon,” which were themselves inspired
by the paintings by DeLoss McGraw, reproduced by the artist’s
kind permission on the front and back covers. Sun and moon appear
and reappear in the wonderful writing between these covers, shining,
playful, though sometimes dark, suspended in bruised skies: in
short, ever changing with their masks of a thousand metaphors.
If the sun, writes W.D. Snodgrass, is a lion / circling his
cage or a sunflower / with a broad gold face, writes Elsa
Cross in her poem “Narayana,” it now rises/ over
the waters, / yellow crown / vows/ for the kindling day.
In Coral Bracho’s “Light Spilled Over an Alabaster
Pond” there it is again: within a small transparent stone
/ the dazzled happiness of the sun — and again, echoed
in the talking flower of Gladys Ilarregui’s “The Dream,”
and the song-like celebration of Nela Rio’s “To María,
with Affection.” The moon, on the other hand, is for W.D.
Snodgrass a thin nail paring / Or sweet slice of some pale,
blue melon. And as if those metaphors were not stunning enough,
Alberto Blanco offers the moon like a fruit pecked at / by
dawn birds... like a dove that quivers/ on the eave’s edge...
floating like a pearl / between crab’s claws... enigmatic
as a sphinx / in the zodiac of dreams.
Day and night, yin and yang: the one precedes the other, as the
one contains the other. Indeed, as Juana Goergen writes in her
stunning “La Maga,” in heaven there is a hell for
the miserable — or a hell to be revealed, as in Daniel
Orozco’s short story, “Orientation” in which an
innocuous office tour for a new employee reveals a chamber of
laugh-out-loud horrors, and in Lex Williford’s devastating
flash fiction of the unraveling of a romance, “Pendergast’s
Daughter.” (As for those who long for the heaven of literary
“Success,” be sure to read Gabriel Zaid’s little
poem about the hell contained therein.)
But if night contains the day, so surely hell contains a heaven.
Luis Arturo Ramos’ pathetic Dr. Luna and his heartless visitor,
Julian Anderson’s lonely suburbanite about to lose her life-long
lover to cancer, Charles Simic’s fork from hell and evil-eyed
spoon — each word of these exquisitely crafted pieces glitters
like a diamond in sunshine. Indeed, it would be a challenge to
find darker material than Jeff Taylor’s (yes, vivid) memoir
of working in a meat packing plant; nonetheless, his “Carnal
Knowledge” is one of the sunniest essays I’ve read
in years.
The last word,
of course, belongs to the translators. Their notes — generous,
interesting, technical, many of them extensive, some of them
provocative, one a mini-interview (paulo da costa’s) and
one (Patricia Dubrava’s) containing a poem itself —
begin on page 173, just before the contributors’ notes.
It goes without saying that without the translators’ painstaking
labors of love, these poems and stories and essays, wonderful
as they are, would have remained like Mr. Sun and Mr. Moon, caged
behind the bars — in this case, of their original languages.
And now, sprung free, here they are in your hands, before your
eyes.
C.M.
Mayo, Editor
This
issue of Tameme was made possible by a generous grant from
the Fund for US-Mexico Culture. Este número de Tameme
fue hecho posible gracias a una beca del Fideicomiso para la
Cultura México-Estados Unidos.
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WELCOME to the second issue of Tameme, “Sun and Moon,” the title of which is inspired by the two whimsical poems by W.D. Snodgrass, “The Capture of Mr. Sun” and “The Capture of Mr. Moon,” which were themselves inspired by the paintings by DeLoss McGraw, reproduced by the artist’s kind permission on the front and back covers. Sun and moon appear and reappear in the wonderful writing between these covers, shining, playful, though sometimes dark, suspended in bruised skies: in short, ever changing with their masks of a thousand metaphors. If the sun, writes W.D. Snodgrass, is a lion / circling his cage or a sunflower / with a broad gold face, writes Elsa Cross in her poem “Narayana,” it now rises/ over the waters, / yellow crown / vows/ for the kindling day. In Coral Bracho’s “Light Spilled Over an Alabaster Pond” there it is again: within a small transparent stone / the dazzled happiness of the sun — and again, echoed in the talking flower of Gladys Ilarregui’s “The Dream,” and the song-like celebration of Nela Rio’s “To María, with Affection.” The moon, on the other hand, is for W.D. Snodgrass a thin nail paring / Or sweet slice of some pale, blue melon. And as if those metaphors were not stunning enough, Alberto Blanco offers the moon like a fruit pecked at / by dawn birds... like a dove that quivers/ on the eave’s edge... floating like a pearl / between crab’s claws... enigmatic as a sphinx / in the zodiac of dreams.
The last word, of course, belongs to the translators. Their notes — generous, interesting, technical, many of them extensive, some of them provocative, one a mini-interview (paulo da costa’s) and one (Patricia Dubrava’s) containing a poem itself — begin on page 173, just before the contributors’ notes. It goes without saying that without the translators’ painstaking labors of love, these poems and stories and essays, wonderful as they are, would have remained like Mr. Sun and Mr. Moon, caged behind the bars — in this case, of their original languages. And now, sprung free, here they are in your hands, before your eyes.
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#2:
Sun and Moon | #2: Sol y Luna
Letter
from the Editor #2 | Carta
del editor #2
Contents
#2 | Contenido #2
Cover Illustration #2 | Ilustración de
la portada #2
*What
they're saying about Tameme * | *Lo que se han dicho sobre Tameme*
Letter
from the Editor #1 | Carta
del editor #1
Contents
#1 | Contenido
#1
Cover
Illustration #1 | Ilustración
de la portada #1 Purchase Tameme
| Comprar Tameme
Links
| Enlaces
Guidelines
for writers and translators |
Guía para escritores y traductores
Home | Página
Principal
Letter from the Editor #2 | Carta del editor #2
Contents #2 | Contenido #2
Cover Illustration #2 | Ilustración de la portada #2
*What they're saying about Tameme * | *Lo que se han dicho sobre Tameme*
Letter from the Editor #1 | Carta del editor #1
Contents #1 | Contenido #1
Cover Illustration #1 | Ilustración de la portada #1 Purchase Tameme | Comprar Tameme
Links | Enlaces Guidelines for writers and translators | Guía para escritores y traductores
Home | Página Principal
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