What makes a poem … a poem? - Melissa Kovacs

Prevodilac: Milenka Okuka Lektor: Mile Živković

Muhammad Ali spent years training to become the greatest boxer

Muhamed Ali je godinama trenirao da bi postao najveći bokser

the world had ever seen,

koga je svet ikad video,

but only moments to create the shortest poem.

ali je za nekoliko trenutaka stvorio najkraću pesmu.

Ali captivated Harvard's graduating class in 1975

Ali je opčinio klasu diplomaca sa Harvarda 1975.

with his message of unity and friendship.

svojom porukom o jedinstvu i prijateljstvu.

When he finished, the audience wanted more.

Kada je završio, publika je želela više.

They wanted a poem.

Želeli su pesmu.

Ali delivered what is considered the shortest poem ever.

Ali je izveo nešto što se smatra najkraćom pesmom ikad napisanom.

"Me, we."

"Ja, mi."

Or is it "me, weeee"?

Ili je to bilo "ja, mini"?

No one's really sure.

Niko zasigurno ne zna.

Regardless, if these two words are a poem, then what exactly makes a poem a poem?

Kako god, ako su ove dve reči poezija, onda šta tačno čini pesmu pesmom?

Poets themselves have struggled with this question,

Sami pesnici su se borili s ovim pitanjem,

often using metaphors to approximate a definition.

često koristeći metafore kako bi se približili definiciji.

Is a poem a little machine?

Da li je pesma mali mehanizam?

A firework?

Vatromet?

An echo?

Eho?

A dream?

San?

Poetry generally has certain recognizable characteristics.

Poezija uopšteno ima određene prepoznatljive karakteristike.

One - poems emphasize language's musical qualities.

Prva - pesme naglašavaju muzički kvalitet jezika.

This can be achieved through rhyme, rhythm, and meter,

Ovo može da se postigne putem rime, ritma i metra,

from the sonnets of Shakepeare,

od Šekspirovih soneta

to the odes of Confucius,

preko Konfučijevih oda

to the Sanskrit Vedas.

do Veda iz sanskrita.

Two - poems use condensed language,

Druga - pesme koriste jezgrovit jezik,

like literature with all the water wrung out of it.

nalik književnosti iz koje je isceđena sva voda.

Three - poems often feature intense feelings,

Treća - pesme često sadrže snažna osećanja,

from Rumi's spiritual poetry

od Rumijeve duhovne poezije

to Pablo Neruda's "Ode to an Onion."

do "Ode luku" Pabla Nerude.

Poetry, like art itself, has a way of challenging simple definitions.

Poezija, poput same umetnosti, zna kako da izazove proste definicije.

While the rhythmic patterns of the earliest poems

Dok su ritmički obrasci najranijih pesama

were a way to remember stories even before the advent of writing,

bili način da se zapamte priče čak i pre pojave pisanja,

a poem doesn't need to be lyrical.

pesma ne mora da bude lirska.

Reinhard Döhl's “Apfel”

"Apfel" Rajnharda Dola

and Eugen Gomringer's "silencio"

i "silencio" Jugena Gomringera

toe the line between visual art and poetry.

pomeraju granicu između vizuelne umetnosti i poezije.

U međuvremenu, E. E. Kamings je pisao pesme čiji su oblici podjednako važni

Meanwhile, E.E. Cummings wrote poems whose shapes were as important

as the words themselves,

kao i same reči,

in this case amplifying the sad loneliness of a single leaf falling through space.

u ovom slučaju naglašavajući tužnu usamljenost lista koji pada u prostoru.

If the visual nature of poetry faded into the background,

Ako bi se vizuelna priroda poezije stopila sa pozadinom,

perhaps we'd be left with music,

možda bi nam preostala muzika,

and that's an area that people love to debate.

a to je oblast o kojoj ljudi vole da raspravljaju.

Are songs poems?

Jesu li tekstovi pesama poezija?

Many don't regard songwriters as poets in a literary sense,

Mnogi ne smatraju kantautore pesnicima u književnom smislu,

but lyrics from artists like Paul Simon,

međutim tekstovi umetnika, poput Pola Sajmona,

Bob Dylan,

Boba Dilana

and Tupac Shakur

i Tupaka Šakura

often hold up even without the music.

često mogu da stoje i bez muzike.

In rap, poet elements like rhyme, rhythm, and imagery

U repu su pesnički elemeti, poput rime, ritma i slika

are inseparable from the form.

neodvojivi od oblika.

Take this lyric from the Notorious B.I.G.

Uzmite ovaj tekst Notorijus Biajdžija:

"I can hear sweat trickling down your cheek

"Čujem znoj kako niz obraz kaplje ti

Your heartbeat sound like Sasquatch feet

Otkucaj srca ti zvuku Saskvačevih stopala naliči

Thundering, shaking the concrete."

Grmi, trese beton."

So far, all the examples we've seen have had line breaks.

Do sad, svi primeri koje smo videli su imali prelomljene stihove.

We can even imagine the two words of Ali's poem organizing in the air -

Možemo čak i da zamislimo dve reči Alijeve pesme kako se sklapaju u vazduhu -

Me, We.

Ja, Mi.

Poetry has a shape that we can usually recognize.

Poezija ima oblik koji obično možemo da prepoznamo.

Its line breaks help readers navigate the rhythms of a poem.

Njeni prelomi stihova pomažu čitaocima da se snađu u ritmu pesme.

But what if those line breaks disappeared?

Međutim, šta kad ne bi bilo prelomljenih stihova?

Would it lose its essence as a poem?

Da li bi pesma izgubila svoju suštinu?

Maybe not.

Možda ne.

Enter the prose poem.

Uzmite pesme u prozi.

Prose poems use vivid images and wordplay

Prozne pesme koriste živopisne slike i igre rečima,

but are formatted like paragraphs.

ali su uobličene kao paragrafi.

When we look at poetry less as a form and more as a concept,

Kada posmatramo poeziju manje kao oblik, a više kao koncept,

we can see the poetic all around us:

možemo da zapazimo poetičnost svuda oko nas:

spiritual hymns,

duhovne himne,

the speeches of orators like Martin Luther King, Jr.,

govori govornika, poput Martina Luterka Kinga mlađeg,

JFK,

Džona F. Kenedija

and Winston Churchill,

i Vinstona Čerčila,

and surprising places like social media.

kao i na iznenađujućim mestima, poput društvenih mreža.

In 2010, journalist Joanna Smith tweeted updates from the earthquake in Haiti.

Godine 2010. novinarka Džoana Smit je tvitovala novine o zemljotresu na Haitiju.

"Was in b-room getting dressed when heard my name.

"Oblačila sam se u sobi kad čula sam mi ime.

Tremor. Ran outside through sliding door.

Podrhtavanje. Istrčavam kroz klizeća vrata.

All still now. Safe. Roosters crowing."

Sve je sad mirno. Bezbedno. Petlovi kukuriču."

Smith uses language in a way that is powerful, direct,

Smit koristi jezik na snažan, direktan način,

and filled with vivid images.

s mnogo živopisnih slika.

Compare her language to a haiku,

Uporedite njen jezik s haikuom,

the ancient Japanese poetic form that emphasizes bursts of brief intensity

drevnim japanskim pesničkim oblikom koji naglašava izlive sažete siline

with just three lines of five, seven, and five syllables.

sa svega tri stiha od pet, sedam i pet slogova.

The waters of poetry run wide and deep.

Vode poezije teku široko i duboko.

Poetry has evolved over time,

Poezija je vremenom evoluirala,

and perhaps now more than ever,

danas možda više nego ikad pre,

the line between poetry, prose, song, and visual art has blurred.

granica između poezije, proze, pesme i vizuelne umetnosti je zamagljena.

However, one thing has not changed.

Međutim, jedno se nije promenilo.

The word poetry actually began in verb form,

Reč poezija je zapravo nastala u glagolskom obliku,

coming from the ancient Greek poiesis, which means to create.

potiče od antičke grčke reči poesis što znači stvarati.

Poets, like craftsman, still work with the raw materials of the world

Pesnici, nalik zanatlijama, i dalje rade sa sirovim materijalom iz sveta

to forge new understandings

kako bi skovali nova razumevanja

and comment on what it is to be human in a way only humans can.

i zapažanja o tome kako je biti čovek, kako to samo ljudi znaju.

Dartmouth researchers tested this idea by asking robots to pen poetry.

Istraživači sa Dartmauta su testirali ovu ideju,

tražeći od robota da napišu poeziju.

A panel of judges sorted through stacks of sonnets

Komisija procenitelja je razvrstavala gomile soneta

to see if they could distinguish those made by man and machine.

kako bi videli da li mogu da razlikuju koje su napisali ljudi, a koje mašine.

You may be happy to know that while scientists have successfully

Možda će vas razveseliti saznanje da dok naučnici uspešno

used artificial intelligence in manufacturing,

koriste veštačku inteligenciju u proizvodnji,

medicine,

medicini,

and even journalism,

pa čak i novinarstvu,

poetry is a different story.

poezija je nešto drugo.

The robots were caught red-handed 100% of the time.

Roboti su uhvaćeni na delu 100% puta.