Why do this?

My father, José Luis Villamizar Melo, passed away in my home town of Cúcuta, Colombia, in August last year. The law and economics were Dad's profession, but literature, history and academia his passion. He wrote and published several books, articles and book chapters. The thing is that so many people have missed out on his work, particularly on his beautiful poetry, which he wrote in Spanish prior to the world wide web. So I thought, what a better way to keep Dad's legacy alive than to bring his writing beyond his world and share it with mine. That is why I am translating over 250 of my Dad's poems to English and publishing them here, one a day, Monday to Friday during 2011 (Dad, a family man, always believed that you shouldn't work on weekends).



Friday, December 30, 2011

Blank canvas (Lienzo en blanco)

The past two years have been a mad ride! In a good way though: I quit Alumni Relations to be a full time student, started a PhD, taught at the Faculty of Arts at Monash, got my baby cat Alex, went to Colombia and farewelled my father, joined the most amazing choir (Low Rez), quit my PhD, met great people whom I now call friends, left Monash, went to Thailand, got a fantastic new job at RMIT, taught more Spanish at the CAE, translated over 200 of my Dad’s poems, shaved my head (again), left the choir (painfully), went back to life drawing and became a yoga fan, among many other things.

2012 does not look any quieter, but I’m ready for it. From my own book still untitled. Tomorrow will be my Dad’s last poem.

Blank canvas (Lienzo en blanco)

Like a blank canvas
with every possibility ahead
ready to burst into colours
afraid of the maybes
and trying to suck up the light
primed in previous occasions
and stretched to size
waiting for Chirico
or Miro or Magritte
to find a surreal dream
a dream that is as real
as the truth hidden
behind the painter’s brush.

at 7:17 PM

1 comment:

  1. AnonymousJune 8, 2013 at 7:37 PM

    Andrés! Me gustaría leer las poesías en castellano! Sabes que mi novia es maestra de yoga kundalini? Y tengo buenas noticias! Ya me aceptó Amnistía Internacional de Paraguay para hacer una pasantia por 6 meses el próximo año! Tenés que ayudarme estar suficiente preparado para hablar solo por español! Espero que estés bien! Nos vemos el próximo semestre!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)