Translation for this piece.
Title: El letargo de las cosas (The Lethargy of Things)
Translation:
i read that the sun is out and i think:
like a bellybutton,
the hole through which i breathed
for the first time.
i see the sun sink, and i think:
like en eyeball.
i sink my eyeballs when i’m hot.
sometimes, if i’m celebrating, i put a red table cloth and light
two candles.
the dripping wax builds a crust on the cloth.
i peel it off with my nails so it won’t look dirty,
disgust.
i like to scratch things and move them away from their lethargy.
Artist Statement:
My work, whether it’s poetry, drawing, painting or comics, explores the subjectivities of place in the realm of hybridity and transit, a space that defies definitions. Words and images often coexist in the same space as a sign of this hybridity.
Tana Oshima was born in Kanagawa, Japan. She is a Japanese to Spanish literary translator and a visual artist living in New York City. She has translated “Territorio de luz” (Territory of Light) by Yuko Tsushima, “Agujero” (“The Hole”) by Hiroko Oyamada, and “Tokio, estación de Ueno” (Tokyo, Ueno Station) by Yu Miri. She has self-published 9 mini comics in English. An anthology of some of her comics came out in February 2022 in Mexico. Her graphic poetry has appeared in Anomaly, CUNY’s LL Journal, Quiet Lightning and the C’est Bon Anthology. She has had group shows in Spain, Miami, New York and Sweden. She is currently translating another novel by Yuko Tsushima, drawing/writing a graphic memoir, and writing an experimental novel. She also teaches and has two kids.