Singing Poems with Illustrations: Cecilia Vicuña’s poetry performance with translator Rosa Alcala at the reading in memory of T. S. Eliot

On October 24, the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts hosted a reading in memory of T. S. Eliot in the Woodberry Poetry Hall, dedicated to the work of Cecilia Vicuña. As a Chilean poet, artist, pacifist and filmmaker, and winner of the 2023 National Arts Prize, Vicuña has shared her poetry in a compelling way, touching on themes such as war, destruction and eroticism.

Rosa Alcala, poet and translator, spoke about Viscunha’s career and work. Alcalá herself has translated many of Viscugna’s collections, including The Network Cloud, The Word and the Thread, The Temple of the Scythe, and New Selected Poems of Cecilia Viscugna. Viscunya’s presentation was thorough and detailed, showing the breadth of Viscunya and Alakala’s long-term partnership. She described Viscugna’s poems as “epigenetic,” “enduring,” and “promising radical change.”

“In many ways, I see her work as an attempt to return again and again to this playful, erotic exchange of language and other materials, bringing together the remnants of that original pleasure and hope generated by youthful exploration and collective action with the consequences of the various historical and environmental disasters caused The United States, and us, is an obsidian mirror of the Anthropocene,” Alcala said.

After Alcala’s powerful performance, the room fell silent as the audience waited for Viscuna to appear. However, Viscuña did not appear immediately. For a while, the projector showed images of Viscunya’s work. While the audience was engrossed in the drawings, Viscunya’s voice suddenly sounded like tense, quiet singing. Viscugna then slowly walked to the front of the room and gave the audience a quiet surprise.

“It kind of trains your attention in one direction,” poet David Bouchard commented on his experience. “But then you start listening and you even realize that the poet has moved to the center – to the front of the room.”

Kelvin McLellan, an audience member and poet, was impressed by the unexpected, immersive experience of Viscunya’s performance.

“I had never seen her perform before, so I didn’t expect to hear the music and hear her voice behind me. But it was full of memorable moments,” McLellan said.

The poetry reading was not at all traditional. It was a complete combination of singing, poetry and visual arts.

“It’s almost like a full, multi-dimensional experience of someone’s creative life. You’re surrounded by it musically, visually and linguistically. So there’s something special and unique about it,” said Elizabeth M. Young, a poet and educator from Boston.

Poet and critic Anna V.K. Ross also admired Viscugna’s multi-faceted artistry and the detail of her performance.

“Seeing her drawings on the screen and the image of people with long strands of fur in the mountains, hearing her sing her poems, going from singing to talking to whispering, it’s beautiful,” Ross said. “It fills every possible feeling.”

Such an inclusive art form and storytelling allows viewers to have a complete experience with Viscuna.

During the first part of the speech, Viscuña stood on the podium and began to read poetry in English. She then introduced Alcala on stage, with Viscuna reading the original in Spanish and Alcala reading the English translation. At one point, Viscuña thought it would be more effective to simply ask Alakl to read the English translation, but the audience disagreed since many of them knew Spanish. The dynamic between translator Alakala and Viscugna was interesting to watch.

Young noted that it is usually not easy to get a translator to read with the author because one ends up dominating the other. But in the case of Viscugna and Alcalá, the mutual understanding achieved through years of collaboration caused one reading to reinforce the other.

Even though Ross attended the live Zoom performance during the pandemic, she felt the live performance was even more powerful and impactful.

“I think maybe the only way she can really be fully experienced is in person because you can see everything she does,” Ross said.

—Staff writer Dylan Xu can be reached at: [email protected]. Follow her to X in @Dylansuzi.