Fluent Thought

 Miao-Yi Tu

By Miao-Yi Tu

I met the Peruvian poet Jorge Aliaga Cacho at the International Poetry Festival, held in Tarija, Bolivia, in 2017. At that event, I received from his hands a few of his poems. Since it was in Spanish, I couldn't understand them. In the week of activities that the event lasted, I had the initial impression that Jorge Aliaga Cacho was a humble gentleman. I really got to know his poems, later, when I read his blog, on my return to Taiwan. Later, because he lived in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was fluent in English, we were able to communicate and exchange various literary ideas in English.

This year, Jorge Aliaga Cacho, helped me correct some translations into Spanish: my poems and stories, and the western translation of Zhong Yongfeng's lyrics. He also posted Wallis Yugan's work and mine on his blog.

I have selected three poems of his authorship that made me feel the rich inner emotions of the poet. Jorge Aliaga Cacho uses a perceptual pen to express a kind of emotional and retrospective search. It is not the passionate love of young people, but the state of mind, rich after experiencing life, that is clearly presented. The images include metaphors and similes. Use tender brush strokes to create beautiful pain. The words are precise and the images are contemplative. He wrote about his wife, a complicated sentiment that seemed remote but intimate, very sincere. I am deeply honoured to be able to translate his poems for readers in Taiwan. I invited Chen Huiyan, a translator who has lived in Venezuela for 20 years, to take charge of the translation of Aliaga Cacho's poems. It seems that his translation has resulted in a quite precise rendering.

Note from Jananti:
Mandarin is spoken by around 955 million people distributed in the following countries: China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.