(Auto)traduccions

"The original poems are lyrical with a musicality that resounds through the repetition of vowels and alliteration. I was also struck by the range of influences in the work, the poems are contemporary and utterly global in their references as the poet subtly weaves in echoes of other writers into her own texts.

Aymerich-Lemos is concerned with language, clearly evident in the poem ‘If the Words Entice Me In’, a poem about reading but also writing, a meta-poem in fact. Her interest in language isn’t confined to her native Catalan but also to her engagement with multiple languages on different levels and this has resulted in a long-term project, Multiple Versions, a platform for poetry translation that promotes minority languages alongside those more widely spoken.

My own translations therefore are part of an ongoing conversation, my own attempts to read her work. In the process of translation, I’m hoping to find echoes of the poet’s own voice in the rhythms and repetitions, a voice that is wry, cosmopolitan and yet also rooted in the rural and urban landscapes of her home in Catalonia."

Matthew Geden, Modern Poetry in Translation, Nov. 2024.