WRITE THE WORLD REVIEW ARCHIVE

Any word is un-trans-latable
if you are bad enough
at trans-lating things. For instance:
I am trying to tell you
this skin is not my own
but the words get tangled up
in my throat and spill out as
I am not my own
which is not what I mean. For instance:
I am trying to tell you
wish I were a boy
but you mis-trans-late the words and hear
wish I were less of a girl
which is not what I mean. For instance:
I trans-late myself into ink
as someone you would not recognize.

You are teaching me to drive. The traffic light
spills out wavelengths that my eyes trans-late
into colors and my mind trans-lates into words:
stop and go and wait. You are talking about women and I
am talking about women and
you and I
are not talking about the same thing.
Stop. Wait. I am trying to trans-late myself
into words you will understand but you will not understand.
Anything is un-trans-latable
if you are a bad enough trans-lator.

You tell me, turn left. but not too left.
You tell me, of course I respect them, but-
You tell me, I don't understand why you can't just-

Time is a river, growing greater, and there is no bridge
to span far enough. No trans-lation across its dark
waters. No way of saying both, neither, stop, go, wait.
No way of explaining a cell phone to a caveman,
no way of explaining a rainbow before there was rain,
no way of explaining the universe in binary code.

Anything is un-trans-latable if you are a bad enough trans-lator
and I fear I am the worst of all.