"June 11" by David Lehman -- in English & Portuguese (trans. Francisco Carvalho)

11 de Junho

Faço anos tenho a barriga vazia Posts
desejo preguiçar na rede
ir talvez nadar num dia quente
com o trombone de "I've Got You
Under My Skin" do Sinatra
metido na cabeça depois parar
para o almoço uma sanduíche
de carne de vaca enlatada e uma Pepsi
com muitos cubos de gelo ao contrário de França
onde põem um mísero cubo de gelo
na nossa Coca cara e quando
pedimos mais discutem connosco
desta maneira dizem pelo preço
fica com mais Coca mostrando não
perceberem nada da essência dos
refrigerantes Americanos que são uma
desculpa para os cubos de gelo contudo
não me importaria de uns dias por
lá ocorre-me a atitude do Philip Larkin
em relação à China quando lhe perguntaram
se gostaria de lá ir respondeu sim
se pudesse voltar no mesmo dia

-- trans. Francisco Carvalho; 6 / 26 / 19 

June 11

It's my birthday I've got an empty
stomach and the desire to be
lazy in the hammock and maybe
go for a cool swim on a hot day
with the trombone in Sinatra's
"I've Got You Under My Skin"
in my head and then to break for
lunch a corned-beef sandwich and Pepsi
with plenty of ice cubes unlike France
where they put one measly ice cube
in your expensive Coke and when
you ask for more they argue with
you they say this way you get more
Coke for the money showing they 
completely misunderstand the nature of
American soft drinks which are an
excuse for ice cubes still I wouldn't
mind being there for a couple of
days Philip Larkin's attitude
toward China comes to mind when
asked if he'd like to go there he said
yes if he could return the same day

—David Lehman (from The Daily Mirror)

Comments

[PAUL CORMIER]

this sounds like one of F. O'hara's "I do this, I do that,poems"

[Dave Read]

Happy Birthday David,

Here's a poetry-related birthday verse:

Play Skool

As the impressment of American sailors dropped
the British another rung down the ladder of states,
all the way down to Pirate’s Cove,

The impressment of poetry* shall dunk the
American academy lower still – it’ll
be deep-sixed, by Jove.

Dave Read

*Since the 1970 expose´ of the Famous Writer’s School, more than 800 “creative writing” programs have sprung up on American college campuses.

[Denise Duhamel]

Happy Birthday Fellow Gemini!!!❤️

[David Lehman]

To Paul Cormier: O'Hara was a major inspiration when I wrote the daily poems collected in two of my books, "The Daily Mirror" and "The Evening Sun." Thanks for your comment.

[Angela Ball]

I love this poem and its translation! (Which, knowing Spanish, I read as though through holes in a heavy veil.) You are so right about the self-righteous guardianship of ice in France--yet another of many reasons to drink wine there at every opportunity.