Translation Review - The University of Texas at Dallas

They gaze with gentle eyeson all they do not have.At nightfall they recallthe words and deeds of the just.(“The Other Ocean”)But Engelbert seems to be much more prone to elisionin her translations of Sosa’s poems, streamlining hislines or his rhetorical structures, distilling a core ofmeaning, highlighting a hitherto unobtrusive adjective oreliminating another:¿Qué humano no ha sentidoen el sitio del corazónesos dedos picoteadospor degradantes pájaros de cobre?(“La ciudad de los niños mendigos”)Whose heart has never felt those fingerspeckedby birds with copper beaks?(“The City of Beggar Children”)Todo ello ocurre con admirable naturalidad mientrasla gente aparece y desaparece sin percibirnossiquiera, porque, no hay duda, en medio de la transparenciaderrumbada se cree que somos perros.(“Los perros”)That’s how it is. People come and go, not giving us aglance. In the transparent space around us, they take usfor two dogs.(“Dogs”)If one examines Engelbert’s translations using asmaller unit of measurement, say, one or two words,there is also a great deal to admire about her imaginative,context-driven solutions to some perennial problems inSpanish. What follows is a kind of non-traditional minidictionary,which I hope is not inappropriate (even if itreflects how Engelbert sometimes changes parts ofspeech). If not in Translation Review, where?!abierto — yieldingabrirse — to yawn (in the spatial sense)acobardado — cringingacumulado — heaped-upaguardar — to set asidealrededor — rufflingamistad — companyamistad segura — friendship in my heartanudarse — to be ribbonedarrogante — overconfidentazulinante — habluecinatedbufonada — clown actcasi — supposed(nunca) concluido — undeadcreencias — cantcustodiar — to monitordecir — to confidedefinitivamente — it’s cleardelicadeza — charmdelincuente — gunmolldeshora — nightdeslealtades — selloutsdisponer — to ordainedificar — to concoctenvejecidas (por el odio ) — hate-wizenedescritura — scriptestrellado — star-shatteredextraído — spunfabricar placer — to brew a cup of pleasuregolpe — thudhablar — to expoundhablar oblicuo — to speak with forked tonguehuir — to fadehumillados — dispossessedidéntico — hasn’t changedinventado — ready-madelaberinto — multiple mazesllamar — to beckonmatices — inner workingsnegro — moonlessodio — to festerorillado — bereftpausado — deft(en dos) pedazos — cut in twopenumbra — waiting nightpertenecer — to have to one’s name(en) rebeldía — smolderingrecluido — ringedsacar — to siresensible — capable of feelingsobrevenir — to ravishTierra — whole earthunir — to fusevuelo — haloWhen I read Engelbert’s convincing translations ofSosa’s poems, I find poems in English that inspire confi-74 Translation Review