Carlos Fuentes, Christopher Unborn

(trans, Alfred Mac Adam)
 
…the Reader would be able to wonder, wherever [she!] might be reading a book apocryphally entitled Christoper Unborn / by / Carlos Fuentes  years after the events narrated there took place, that is, as it always happens, the most rejected books end up being the most accepted books, the most obscure books become the clearest, the most rebellious become the most docile, and that’s the way it goes, Reader.
 
 
Get what you work with, right?
the way a constraint signals the con’s feint
 
One’s concave echo is another’s convex hearer
frieds ringing sass-backward
 
Rejected     →      Accepted    =    mime to calm yr·self & Relax
Obscure      →     Clearest      =    prime to dot.com yr·self & Concentrate
Rebellious   →     Docile        =    time to embalm yr·self & Dispel
 
Dumb luck —      don’t overcook your book’s look
 
And you say (fading now), “that’s the way it goes, Bleeder” [1]
 


[1] Reprise, Umberto Eco’s & Italo Calvino’s novel lines

Stephen Bett is a widely and internationally published Canadian poet with 26 books in print (from BlazeVOX, Chax, Spuyten Duyvil, & others). His personal papers are archived in the “Contemporary Literature Collection” at Simon Fraser University. His website is StephenBett.com
Website: StephenBett.com  ​