Anthony Madrid | Jacket2

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (b)

Exhibit 'B': Finnish.

Exhibit 'B': Finnish. ("Elk and Snake" ["Hirvi ja Käärme"], sung by Oute, collected by A.A. Borenius, 1877; and "The Great Pig" ["Iso Sika"], singer unknown, collected by A. Ahlqvist, 1854)

Bibliography: Finnish Folk Poetry: Epic, edited and translated by Matti Kuusi, Keith Bosley, and Michael Branch (Finnish Literature Society, 1977). The two poems exhibited here are on pages 276 and 269–70, respectively. The book includes the Finnish originals in left-hand columns; English on the right. Expensive book, heavy as a stone.

Twenty-six items from Special Collections

Exhibit 'A': Swahili.

Exhibit 'A': Swahili. (Ahmad Nassir bin Juma Bhalo, "A bone is not cookable," and "Though you toast the popcorn")

Anthony Madrid

Bibliography: Poems from Kenya: Gnomic Verses in Swahili by Ahmad Nassir bin Juma Bhalo, translated and edited by Lyndon Harries (University of Wisconsin Press, 1966). ¶ The front flap of the dust jacket includes a picture of the poet. He looks about thirty. The book includes the Swahili originals en face.

Two poems: "A Bone Is Not Cookable" ["Haupikiki Mfupa"], page 24 ff., and "Though You Toast the Popcorn" ["Mungazikaanga Bisi"], page 126 ff.

All through January, February, and March of 2016, I'll be posting more or less exotic items here, every Monday and Thursday. That comes to twenty-six exhibits, so I'm labeling them 'A' through 'Z'. Almost all this material is foreign or old or (mostly) both. I'm hoping to expose readers of Jacket2 to stimulating things they've never seen before.

¶ For years I told my students every literary person ought to accumulate (over the course of, say, twenty years) his or her own Palgrave's Golden Treasury. I wanted people to actually keep detailed lists and, if possible, privately print the relevant materials "for subscribers only." Imagine reading Anne Carson's Golden Treasury. Or Guy Davenport's. Anyhow I mention this because all of the items I'll be posting are from my Golden Treasury.

¶ Every posting will begin with a bibliography. This is for the benefit of the bookhounds out there, who might like to order the original, beautiful, first-edition, smoke-smelling, water-damaged hardcovers, online. Also I'll throw down a few brief observations about the poems, if I have any.

¶ Let me stress: Satisfaction is guaranteed. If, for whatever reason, your expectations are not met, simply return unused portion for a full refund.

ANTHONY MADRID lives in Chicago. His poems have appeared in Best American Poetry 2013, Boston Review, Fence, Harvard Review, Lana Turner, LIT, and Poetry. His first book is called I Am Your Slave Now Do What I Say (Canarium Books, 2012).

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Twenty-six items from Special Collections

Exhibit 'A': Swahili. (Ahmad Nassir bin Juma Bhalo, "A bone is not cookable," and "Though you toast the popcorn")

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (b)

Exhibit 'B': Finnish. ("Elk and Snake" ["Hirvi ja Käärme"], sung by Oute, collected by A.A. Borenius, 1877; and "The Great Pig" ["Iso Sika"], singer unknown, collected by A. Ahlqvist, 1854)

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (c)

Exhibit 'C': medieval Italian. (Guido Cavalcanti, Ballad ["Era in penser d'amor quand' i' trovai..."], late 13th century)

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (f)

Exhibit ‘F’: medieval Welsh. (“Eiry mynydd,” anonymous, 12th century, two versions and the original)

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (d)

Exhibit 'D': Mahārāṣṭri Prākṛt. (Specimens from the Gāthāsaptaśatī of Sātavāhana Hāla)

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (e)

Exhibit “E”: Teleuts. (“Praise song of the buck-hare,” anonymous Siberian folksong)

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (g)

Exhibit 'G': Polish. (Zbigniew Herbert, five prose poems, 1950s and 60s)

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (i)

Exhibit 'I': Japanese. (Masaoka Shiki, thirty-seven haiku, 1892–1902)

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (k)

Exhibit ‘K’: Somali. (Anonymous, [“Like a she-camel with a large bell…”])

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (j)

Exhibit 'J': medieval Icelandic. (Anonymous, excerpt from 'Hávamál' ['The Sayings of the High One'], from 'The Poetic Edda,' manuscript circa 1270 CE, stanzas 111–137)

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (h)

Exhibit 'H': Kiriwina (Papua New Guinea). (Linda Thomas, 'Fetching it back,' circa 1970)

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (l)

Exhibit 'L': Sumerian. (Anonymous, ['In those days, in those far-off days…'], circa 1800 BCE)

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (m)

Exhibit ‘M’: Urdu. (Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib, eighteen poems, nineteenth century)

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (n)

Exhibit ‘N’: Serbian. (Vasko Popa, 'Homage to the Lame Wolf,' 1975)

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (O)

Exhibit 'O': Medieval Irish. (Anonymous, 'The Deer's Cry,' eighth century)

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (p)

Exhibit 'P': Occitan. (William VII, Count of Poitiers, IX Duke of Aquitaine, ['Farai un vers de dreyt nien'], circa 1105 CE)

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (q)

Exhibit 'Q': Chinese. (Su Dongpo, ['He is like white clouds …'], circa 1095 CE)

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (r)

Exhibit ‘R’: Russian. (Anton Chekhov, 58 items from his notebooks)

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (t)

Exhibit ‘T’: USA children (20th and 21st centuries)

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (u)

Exhibit ‘U’: Scots Gaelic. (Sorley Maclean, 'Hallaig,' 1954)

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (v)

Exhibit ‘V’: Yoruba. (Anonymous, six animal poems)

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (w)

Exhibit ‘W’: Russian. (Anna Akhmatova, ['The twenty-first. Night. Monday.'], 1917)

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (s)

Exhibit ‘S’: Koryak. (Two folktales, both told by Pa’qa, a girl of Kamenskoye Village on the Penzhinskaya Bay, collected 1901)

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (x)

Exhibit ‘X’: Ancient Greek. (Theocritus, 'Idyll #2,' third century BCE)

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (y)

Exhibit ‘Y’: Hausa (Nigeria). (Anonymous, dan tauri performance, 20th century)

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (z)

Exhibit ‘Z’: Sanskrit. (Five poems, two anonymous, one by Vacaspati, one by Vidya, one by Varahamihira; unknown dates)

Twenty-six items from Special Collections (Table of Contents)

Exhibits ‘A’–‘Z’: Complete list.