Psalm Contest - Updates

I received the first entry to this year's contest about a week ago, a version of Psalm 139 by a former Bennington classmate. The Bay Psalm Book renders a part of the original as If I take mornings wings; and dwell / where utmost sea-coasts be / even there thy hand shall me conduct. The first submission flips this to say that God too is unable to escape the psalmists presence. They are stuck with one another. I wish I could share more but don't want to to let the cat out of the bag or unduly influence other writers in their approach. Plenty of time left to get your entry in. $200 up for psalming grabs. See the details here and last year's winner here. Submit!

Google autofill: why are so many writers _______

And this is how writers are perceived:

JOT Conference Talk - Eyes and Ears

A talk I gave at the JOT Conference - 2/8/2013. Happy Valentine's Day all.

Odd Advertisement - The Art of the Tart

This Yankee Candle advertisement caught my eye last night while I was shopping at Meijer. It brought to my mind an alternative meaning of the word tart. Tart - Noun - A prostitute or promiscuous woman. The article the is the key to this interpretation. The indicates that a noun will follow. Not tart but the tart. The art of the prostitute doesn't seem like a great slogan for selling candles. If one takes the registration mark in the subtext to be a possessive apostrophe, this interpretation get even more unfortunate.

Lenten Psalm Translation Contest

Happy Fat Tuesday, dear reader. For lent this year, I'm hosting another Psalm Translation Contest (see the previous posting here). Last year's winner wrote a brilliant reversal of Psalm 26. Entrants went on to publish their translations in Image, A-Minor Magazine, and The Missouri Review. So, round two...

Rules: Pick any biblical Psalm and translate it into English (foreign language entries welcome with literal translation included). Mangle, tangle, make strange, reverse, jump off from - in short do whatever you like with your psalm as long as the result is strong poetry. No knowledge of Hebrew is necessary. Entries will be judged (by panel) on originality, musicality, accuracy (to the psalm's spirit), and aesthetics. Send entries to MatthewDLandrum(at)gmail(dot)com.

Prize: $200 and a beat-up copy of George Steiner's "After Babel - Aspect of Language and Translation." Winners will be published on this blog.

Deadline: Easter Sunday (March 31, 2013)

Resources: Hebrew/English interlinear Psalms, Interlinear Bible,Matthew Henry commentary, Thomas Aquinas commentary w/ Latin-English translation.

Google Mistranslations II

Three of my poems (translated into Faroese by Agnar Artúvertin) are appearing in the next issue of Varðin. Agnar coined a new word to translate my use of gloss (shine and explanation) - orðaglitri/wordglitter. So nice to have my own Faroese word. I've plugged the poems into google translate (which mistakes Faroese for Icelandic). As with last time strangeness ensued. All three poems came back with a variant of the phrase one can achieve perfection. Here are some lines:

• And you standing by the end of the laser Lotus...
• You breath in the routine.
• Sit anchor the tendon jar, hot and tongue / clay.
• One can achieve perfection, some settled.
• He remembers mountains / and one gent, whether he faces open sea in the dream.
• One can achieve perfection, sense love.
• So subside darkness stations.
• Now any one can achieve perfection. / All do the same.
• The houses, high sense create.