Speak My Language: "Translate" Your Way to Poetry

credit: v. sulinská via unsplash

Hey there, fellow writers. To kick off today's short and sweet poetry prompt, we've got a query for you: Have you ever totally misheard a lyric in a song, or missed something someone said? Perhaps a friend of yours was trying to tell you an emotional story (to which you weren't paying full attention, tsk tsk) and suddenly, out of the blue, you hear "And that's when I saw my granddad's dick". You pause, bewildered, and exclaim "What did you just say?" And your friend impatiently repeats themselves. They were saying "And that's when I called. My dog was sick." all along. You look preposterous.

Turn that frown upside down, writing buddies. Use your social blunders to create poetry you didn't know you could write. How, you ask? Homophonic translation!

I'm not talking about playing Catch Phrase (at which I am notoriously bad) or creating a list of words that sound like other words. I'm talking about taking a foreign language and tweaking it into English words and phrases.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to 'translate' the following passage into English.

Bientôt nous plongerons dans les froides ténèbres; Adieu, vive clarté de nos étés trop courts! J'entends déjà tomber avec des chocs funèbres Le bois retentissant sur le pavé des cours. Tout l'hiver va rentrer dans mon être: colère, Haine, frissons, horreur, labeur dur et forcé, Et comme le soleil dans son enfer polaire, Mon coeur ne sera plus qu'un bloc rouge et glacé. J'écoute en frémissant chaque bûche qui tombe; L'échafaud qu'on bâtit n'a pas d'écho plus sourd. Mon esprit est pareil à la tour qui succombe Sous les coups du bélier infatigable et lourd. Il me semble, bercé sur ce choc monotone, Qu'on cloue en grande hâte un cercueil quelque part, Pour qui ?-- C'était hier l'été; voici l'automne ! Ce bruit mystérieux sonne comme un départ.

Translate each sound, or set of sounds, into English words. Write your complete 'translation' on another page. Do not pull up Google Translate. Do not collect $200. If you really truly get stuck and you can't come up with an English word at all, translate the word based on what English word it happens to look like. To get a gold star, you could 'translate' the above passage twice, both by sound and by appearance.

Don't be afraid to let things get a little weird. I mean it. When I first tried something like this, I wound up writing a poem about otters or walruses or something. Pudding may have been involved. But trust us; let your brain go where it wants to go. Your English 'translation' very well could be the starting line for a poem that turns out to be great. At the very least, you had a little bit of fun with words and helped your brain unthink for a little while. And without unthinking, we'd be stuck doing the same ol' stuff day in and day out.

Once you've gotten the hang of this, I'd encourage you to try this "translation" on other texts that aren't in English: poems, newspapers, graffiti, etc; you never know where a little tweak of language will take you.

How'd our prompt go for you? Don't be afraid to chat with us! Send us an email or leave a comment below.