A Familiar Curve of Vein: Poems and Translations

Abstract

The themes in this collection of poems center on issues of gender and memory. The poems are self-consciously aware of their status as art objects, and gender and power dynamics are examined within the artistic process through ekphrastic interaction with the visual. The collection also includes new verse translations of Spanish-language poets, Julia de Burgos, Pablo Neruda, and Federico García Lorca. These translations adhere less strictly to literal line-by-line readings, and instead, focus on conveying the emotional content of the original texts. The translations are balanced by original poems that explore moments of separation and coalescence between the cultures of two languages by creating a space in which both English and Spanish are musical possibilities.