Monday, April 3, 2023

I Have Your Rags

 



Image by Esi Grünhagen from Pixabay 



GloPoWriMo Day 3 - Find a shortish poem that you like, and rewrite each line, replacing each word (or as many words as you can) with words that mean the opposite. 

I have chosen Vasko Popa's Give Me Back My Rags #11. The original poem is here. I am not sure who has translated it to English. The website doesn't say.

I didn't focus on replacing every word. Rather, I replaced the key words with their opposites. The result is rather sinister.

Here is my version:



Image by Adriano Gadini from Pixabay 



I Have Your Rags


I've smudged my face with your face.
Stitched your shadow to my shadow.

Ruffled the plains in you.
Turned your hills into plains. 

Declared ceasefire among your seasons.
Turned all the ends of the world to you. 

Untwisted the path of my life towards you. 
My wide open, my predictable path. 

Just try not to meet me now.







2 comments:

  1. I absolutely love your take on this, and delighted to see the poem you used; I remember back when we were doing it in school, I could not connect to it as I can now when I am older, so I feel like the poem often remains read only in those school ages for many. This is why I especially appreciate being able to read a poem like yours, that additionally gives an insight, so thank you for sharing!

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    1. Thank you so much. Yes, I remember doing Give Me Back My Rags at school and being clueless about what it meant. I guess it was too early to do this poem back then. Now I am a obsessed with Vasko Popa.

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