for Joseph Cornell

Hexagons of wood and glass,

scarcely bigger than a shoe box,

with room in them for night and all it's lights.

Monuments to every moment,

refuse of every moment, used:

cages for infinity.

Marbles, buttons, thimbles, dice,

pins, stamps, and glass beads:

tales of time.

Memory weaves, unweaves the echoes:

in the four corners of the box

shadowless ladies play at hide and seek.

Fire buried in the mirror,

water sleeping in the agate:

solos of Jenny Colonne and Jenny Lind.

"One has to commit a painting," said Degas,

"the way one commits a crime." But you contructed

boxes where things hurry away from their names.

Slot machine of visions,

condensation flask for conversations,

hotel of crickets and constellations.

Minimal, incoherent fragments:

the opposite of History, creator of ruins,

out of your ruins you have made creations.

Theater of the spirits:

objects putting the laws

of identity through hoops.

The "Grand Hotel de la Couronne": in a vial,

the three of clubs and, very surprised,

Thumbelina in gardens of reflections.

A comb is a harp strummed by the glance

of a little girl

born dumb.

The reflector of the inner eye

scatters the spectacle:

God all alone above an extinct world.

The apparitions are manifest,

their bodies weigh less than light,

lasting as this phrase lasts.

Joseph Cornell: inside your boxes

my words became visible for a moment.

trans by Elizabeth Bishop

Elizabeth Bishop. The Fish

https://www.thebilge.kz/e/action/ShowInfo.php?classid=33&id=4018

Octavio Paz: Көше (The Street)

https://www.thebilge.kz/e/action/ShowInfo.php?classid=5&id=3534

Octavio Paz. Walt Whitman поэзиясы

https://www.thebilge.kz/e/action/ShowInfo.php?classid=2&id=3959

Octavio Paz. Поэзия және сөйлеу мен тыңдау

https://www.thebilge.kz/e/action/ShowInfo.php?classid=2&id=3716

Октавио Пас (Octavio Paz): Садақшы, жебе жəне нысана

https://www.thebilge.kz/e/action/ShowInfo.php?classid=3&id=3448

Octavio Paz. Piedra de sol

https://www.thebilge.kz/e/action/ShowInfo.php?classid=33&id=3854