Gymniad XXI (with translations)

We are light
and shadow,
form and mystery,
in a setting
of time and space.
Beyond that frame,
beyond our name,
we simply are,
and we are one
and many.
We are life,
and life
must be free.

Somos luz
y sombra
forma y misterio,
en un entorno
de tiempo y espacio
Más allá de ese marco,
más allá de nuestro nombre,
simplemente somos,
y somos uno
y muchos
Somos vida,
y vida
tiene que ser libre.


हम प्रकाश हैं
और छाया,
रूप और रहस्य,
एक सेटिंग में
समय और स्थान का
उस फ्रेम से परे,
हमारे नाम से परे,
हम बस हैं,
और हम एक हैं
और बहुत।
हम जीवन हैं,
और जीवन
मुक्त होना चाहिए

Walking with Betty

Walking with Betty
on the beach,
I peer intently
at shells and rocks.
They are like
eidetic memories
from childhood.
The child does not
know what to edit out,
because it is all
potentially important.

A man asks what I
am looking for.
"Nothing," I tell him
(but my first inclination
is to say, "la vida"),
"but one never knows."
We talk some more.
Detecting my accent,
he asks me
where I am from.
It's a tale too long
to tell,
but I tell him
the obvious part.

The dog and I move on,
and I remain lost
in my thoughts.
I am like the child
who cannot edit out,
because it is all
potentially important,
it is all part
of this new life.

Aguas Dulces in Early Morning Light

Beach mist softens
morning light,
mellowing  and
enriching colors.
The low angle
brings out
the magic,
creating a golden,
waking dream.

Gymniad XX

Today was a day of jellyfish,
as others are of clams,
or sea snails,
or sand dollars.
The ocean has its seasons,
and its  reasons.
I follow Betty,
bare-armed,
in loose-fitting overalls,
with nothing underneath.
Like Betty,
who is naked
as all dogs,
and like
the implacable ocean,
I have
my reasons.

Guitars

What do you do
with a guitar
that someone has
sat on
or bashed out
the top
in fury?
What do you do
with a guitar
that you found
in a trash can?
Assuming that
you have the tools,
it depends on
how you feel
about guitars.

Something similar
should be true
of people.

Gymniad XIX - Ritual

I record the process
of aging
before washing,
combing,
or dressing,
satisfied that
vulnerabilities
and insecurities
will be revealed,
and that there is beauty
in truth.

I Have No Color

I have no color,
I have no race.
I have no home
in time or space.
Many disguises
have I worn,
a language spoken,
a place where born.
But I am that
behind all these,
behind the forms
of earth and trees.
I have no name
nor shame,
and I can only be
free.

--Nagna Devidas (Donald Traxler)


मेरे पास कोई रंग नहीं है,
मेरे पास कोई जाति नहीं है
मेरे पास कोई घर नहीं है
समय या अंतरिक्ष में
कई प्रच्छन्न
क्या मैंने पहना है,
बोली जाने वाली भाषा,
एक जन्मस्थान
लेकिन मैं ये हूं
इन सब के पीछे,
रूपों के पीछे
पृथ्वी और पेड़ों की
मेरे पास कोई नाम नहीं है
न ही लज्जा,
और मैं केवल हो सकता है
स्वतंत्र।

Snowman

The snowman would faint
in our heat,
from his head to his
non-existent feet.
We'd rub his snowmelt
all over us,
and run, joyful,
in the wind.

Please do not rely on Facebook for notification of blog posts, as I have decided to discontinue my use of Facebook. Links to all blog entries will be published on Google Plus (G+, "Don Traxler"), on Twitter (@dtrax42), and on Ello (@dtraxler). I can also be reached by e-mail (exolinguist at gmail dot com). Thank you all for your support. The world needs poetry!

Gymniad XVIII - I Have Had Dreams

I have had dreams about being
more naked than I already am.
It seems to be a desideratum,
yet fully out of reach.
I love nature too much
to be a shaver of pubes,
and were I to slough off
this body before its time,
like the skin of a snake,
I'd leave too much undone
for the honesty that I seek.

Gymniad XVII - The Man in the Mirror

The man in the mirror
has a very long past,
a very real present,
and hopefully,
a very healthy future.
He also has a mission,
and he will have succeeded
when our natural state
has become normal,
and you are no longer
shocked
by mere nudity.

The Five Most-Visited Poems in the Blog

Here are the five most-visited poems in the poetry blog, since its inception, with numbers of visits and posting dates:

Prayer for the World     110     19 Jul 2017 (expressly placed into the public domain)

Arcanum Zero, the Fool (Ad Hoc I)     96     30 Sep 2017

Rumer     84     8 Oct 2017

I Will Be Guided     82     13 Oct 2017

Happy Birthday     79     5 Oct 2016


In general, I agree with your choices, though I think Arcanum Zero made the list because of wishful thinking (on your part, and on mine). Prayer for the World is the only poem, if I'm not mistaken, that I've placed into the public domain, so I obviously like it. Rumer is one of my favorites. I Will Be Guided is the only one on the list written by my alter ego, Nagna Devidas. Happy Birthday, the only poem not written in 2017, was written on my mother's birthday in 2015, and posted when the blog was started, in Oct 2016. For a long time no poem in the blog exceeded it in number of visits, but as the blog's readership grows, the numbers are getting bigger.

As a holiday gift, I'll re-post all five of these poems today. You needn't thank me; it is I who need to thank you, for your wonderful support.

Gymniad XVI - This Body Is an Abstraction (+ ptl, es, fr)

This body is an abstraction,
a map of pleasure and pain
and experience of life.
It contains all possibilities
and potentialities,
both realized and not.
This body does not belong
only to me,
but to a species,
a symbol of the universe,
a figment of imagination,
a denizen
of the stars.

[portunhol surenho]

Este corpo é uma abstrasón,
um mapa de prazer y dor
y experiencia de vida.
Contém todas as possibilidades
y potencialidades,
as realizadas y non.
Este corpo non pertenece
só a mim,
senon a uma espécie,
um símbolo do universo,
um produto de imaginasón,
um habitante
das estrelas.


[español]

Este cuerpo es una abstracción,
un mapa de placer y dolor
y experiencia de la vida.
Contiene todas las posibilidades
y potencialidades,
las realizadas y no.
Este cuerpo no pertenece
solo a mí,
sino a una especie,
un símbolo del universo,
un producto de la imaginación,
un habitante
de las estrellas.


[français]

Ce corps est une abstraction,
une carte du plaisir et de la douleur
et l'expérience de la vie.
Il contient toutes les possibilités
et les potentialités,
réalisées et non.
Ce corps n'appartient pas
seulement à moi,
mais à une espèce,
un symbole de l'univers,
un produit de l'imagination,
un habitant
des étoiles.

Gymniad XV (updated, with translations)

This body is itself my clothing,
there is no need for pride or shame.
I have worn others,
but am still the same.
It is old,
but still it serves,
I give it comfort
a soul deserves,
and health and light
until the coming
of the night.
For another
it will be
put away
at the coming
of the day.


[español]

Este cuerpo es en sí mismo mi ropa,
no hay necesidad de orgullo o vergüenza.
He tenido otros,
pero sigo siendo el mismo.
Es viejo,
pero aún sirve,
y le doy la comodidad
que un alma merece,
y salud y luz
hasta la llegada
de la noche.
Por otro
será cambiado
a la llegada
del día.


[portunhol surenho]

Este corpo é ele próprio a minha roupa,
non hay necessidade de orgusho ou vergonha.
Eu he tenido outros,
mas ainda sou o mesmo.
Isso é vesho,
mas ainda sirve,
eu le doy conforto
que un alma merece,
y saúde y luz
até a chegada
da noite.
Para outro
será cambiado
na vinda
do dia.

Little Egos

I see little egos
driving around in cars.
What will we do
when we are finished
with the ego?

Nagna says: Try it!

--Nagna Devidas (Donald Traxler)


मैं थोड़ा उदास देख रहा हूँ
कारों में चारों ओर चला रहा है
हम क्या करेंगे
जब हम समाप्त हो जाते हैं
अहंकार से?

नग्न कहते हैं: कोशिश करो!

Gymniad XIV

I am more than this body,
but it's a start
on the road to openness
and a new humanity.
Nudity brings honesty,
tolerance,
and human bonding.

We have to start
somewhere.

Sunning on the Way to Christmas

I turn words over in my mind
like shells on the beach.

Looking at the ice plant,
known in these southern latitudes
as "rayitos de sol,"
I think of one of my
earliest memories,
walking on a leash
that was held by my mother,
fascinated by ice plant
that was fascinating the bees.
I still remembered that day
sixty years later,
and so did my mother.
The color of these
"rayitos de sol"
is exactly the same,
but there are
fewer bees.

I couldn't speak even one
language properly that day
on the leash, and now
I speak many, because
something excited my curiosity
when I was five.
Don't know how many languages
I learned, because those from Before
began to leak through
like rayitos de sol.

And the lives that went with
those languages
(as some colors go with others
and do not clash)
were what?
Rayitos de sol?

Perhaps.
Rayitos de many things,
de pena, de amor,
de curiosidad,
de erudición,
del puro placer
de este mismo sol
que, tal como las flores,
es igual.

In San Diego, or Alexandria,
in Italy or the south of France,
on a beach in Brazil,
or Polynesia,
or here,
the little rays
of the sun
are everything.

Nature Works

Nature works
with a mathematical
precision,
over millions
of years.
Who can
gainsay it?

Gymniad XIII (+portunhol)

Curiously,
I record the aging process,
in a journal of mirrors
and angles
of existing light.

Curiously,
though I believe
that I've been through it
many times.


[portunhol surenho]

Com curiosidade,
registro o proceso
de enveshecer,
en un diario de espeshos
y ángulos
de luz existente.

Com curiosidade,
ainda que creo
que o he experimentado
muitas veces.

13 Dec. 2017.

In Black-and-White

In black-and-white,
people and objects
are reduced
to their simplest
terms.

It works better
in art
than it does
in life.


En blanco y negro,
personas y objetos
se reducen
a sus más simples
términos.

Funciona mejor
en el arte
que en
la vida.

Sunset - rAtrisUktam, Rigveda

सा नो अद्य यस्या वयं नि तॆ यामन्नविक्ष्महि | 
वृक्षॆ न वसतिं वयः || 4 ||

sA no adya yasyA vayaM ni tE yAmannavikShmahi |

vRRikShE na vasatiM vayaH || 4 ||

Now she is upon us, and we go to rest for the night

as birds in the tree.

--rAtrisUktam 4 (Rigveda, mandala 10)

Photo: Sunset, Aguas Dulces, Uruguay, 11 Dec. 2017

Mixtos VI - Tierra, mar, y cielo

Tierra, mar, y cielo
es lo que tenemos.
Es lo que somos.

Earth, sea, and sky
is what we have.
It is what we are.

Photo: Earth, Sea, and Sky, Aguas Dulces, Uruguay, 11 Dec. 2017

Gymniad XII

Grabbing my camera,
I head out to the deck.
Buffeted by the wind,
I photograph the dawn.
There is only the sun,
the ocean, and me,
and we are all naked.

Photo: Sunrise, Aguas Dulces, Uruguay, 11 Dec. 2017

Mixtos V - Nascemos nus e livres

[portunhol surenho]

Nascemos nus e livres.
Como adultos, non somos
nem o uno nem o outro.
Y por supremo agravo,
nos ponen o uniforme
do escravo

We are born naked and free.
As adults, we are neither
the one nor the other.
And as the supreme offense,
they put on us the uniform
of the slave.

Gymniad XI

A beleza é verdade,
y verdade, beleza.
--John Keats

A nudez é beleza,
a nudez é verdade.

Beauty is truth,
and truth, beauty.
--John Keats

Nudity is beauty,
nudity is truth.

Mixtos IV - A verdade

[portunhol surenho]

Non é sempre bem-vinda a verdade,
enemiga fugitiva do estado,
pode ser a nossa liberdade,
ou causá o encarcelado

Truth is not always welcome,
fugitive enemy of the state,
it can be our freedom,
or cause our imprisoning.

The Country I Was Born in

The country I was born in
is broken,
and governed by
thieves.
I cannot fix it,
and 300 million
people
have nowhere to go.

The planet I was born on
is no different,
with seven billion
at risk.

The universe
I was born in
is a great
unknown,
waiting,
for us.

Immigrant/Alien

I wasn't born in Uruguay,
and yet I drink ma-te
everyday.
My birth and marriage,
far away,
are recorded here.

[Not end of story.]

I was born nude,
but not a nudist,
yet nakedness
is where I thrive.

I am a stranger
in a strange land,
uncomprehending,
but as logical
as Spock.

I do not laugh
at your pain.

Gymniad X

Naked is normal.

Desnudx es normal.

Gymniad IX

Nudity is a human right.
Naaktheid is 'n mensereg.
Lakuriqësia është një e drejtë njerëzore.
እርቃንነት የሰው ልጅ መብት ነው.

العري هو حق من حقوق الإنسان.

Նեղություն է մարդու իրավունք:

Çılpaqlıq insan hüququdur.

Biluztasuna giza eskubidea da.

Галізна з'яўляецца правам чалавека.

নগ্নতা একটি মানব অধিকার।

Nudizam je ljudsko pravo.

Голотата е човешко право.

La nuesa és un dret humà.

Ang paghuboghubog usa ka katungod sa tawo.

Ulesi ndi ufulu waumunthu.

裸体是一种人权。

A nudalità hè un dirittu umanu.

Golotinja je ljudsko pravo.

Nahota je lidské právo.

Nødhed er en menneskerettighed.

Naaktheid is een mensenrecht.

Nudeco estas homa rajto.

Alastus on inimõigus.

Ang kahubaran ay isang karapatang pantao.

Alastomuus on ihmisoikeus.

La nudité est un droit humain.

Nêst is in minsklik rjocht.

A desnudez é un dereito humano.

შიშველი ადამიანის უფლებაა.

Nacktheit ist ein Menschenrecht.

Το γυμνό είναι ανθρώπινο δικαίωμα.

નગ્નતા માનવ અધિકાર છે

Nidite se yon dwa moun.

Rashin haɓaka shine haƙƙin ɗan adam.

ʻO ka'ōlohelohe ke kuleana kanaka.

העירום הוא זכות אנושית.

नग्नता एक मानवीय अधिकार है।

A meztelenség emberi jog.

Ịdị ncha bụ ikike mmadụ.

Telanjang adalah hak asasi manusia.

La nudità è un diritto umano.

ヌードは人権です。

ನಗ್ನತೆ ಮಾನವ ಹಕ್ಕು.

Жалаңаш адам құқығы.

អាក្រាតកាយគឺជាសិទ្ធិមនុស្ស។

누드는 인권입니다.

Этин адам укугу болуп саналат.

Nudarījums ir cilvēka tiesības.

Nudegimas yra žmogaus teisė.

Наглоста е човеково право.
Ny zokiolona dia zon'olombelona.
Kebogelan adalah hak asasi manusia.
നഗ്നത ഒരു മനുഷ്യാവകാശമാണ്.
In-nudiżmu huwa dritt uman.
He tika te tangata.
नग्नता मानवी अधिकार आहे.
Нүгэлт нь хүний эрх юм.
အဖော်အချွတ်လူသားတစ်ဦးမှန်သည်။
नग्नता एक मानव अधिकार हो।
Nakenhet er en menneskerettighet.
بې انصافۍ د انسان حق دی.
برهنگی یک حق انسانی است.
Nagość jest prawem człowieka.
A nudez é um direito humano.
ਨਗਨਤਾ ਇੱਕ ਮਨੁੱਖੀ ਅਧਿਕਾਰ ਹੈ
Nuditatea este un drept uman.
Нагота - это право человека.
O le tamaoaiga o se aia a tagata.
Tha nead na chòir daonna.
Bohloa ke tokelo ea motho.
Kusvibiswa kodzero yevanhu.
ناحق انسان هڪ حق آهي.
නහය යනු මානව අයිතියකි.
Nahota je ľudské právo.
Golota je človekova pravica.
Nudniintu waa xuquuq aadanaha.
La desnudez es un derecho humano.
Ubaguzi ni haki ya binadamu.
Nakenhet är en mänsklig rättighet.
Нишонӣ ҳуқуқи инсон аст.
நிர்வாணம் என்பது மனித உரிமை.
నగ్నత్వం అనేది మానవ హక్కు.
การเปลือยกายเป็นสิทธิของมนุษย์
Çıplaklık bir insan haktır.
Оголеність - це право людини.
عقل ایک انسانی حق ہے.
Yalanglik inson huquqidir.
Khỏa thân là một quyền của con người.
Mae cludiant yn hawl dynol.
Ubuncwane bulilungelo lomntu.
נאַקעטקייט איז אַ מענטשלעך רעכט.
Iyatọ jẹ ẹtọ eniyan.
Ubunqunu bungelungelo lomuntu.
Nakenhet er en menisklig rajt.

What Is Gymniad?

The title comes from the Greek word "gymnós," meaning "naked." It is a series of poems in which I express my thoughts and feelings about nudity, which is very important to me.

I believe that nudity is a human right, and a crucially important one. Without body freedom, how free can we really be? As in the cases of other human rights, it seems to me that there is a control issue involved. Gymniad explores this and other aspects of our natural nakedness.

If you are offended by natural nudity, please skip over the Gymniad poems. If you are not, please join me in exploring one of the greatest joys of human life.

I Have a Community

I have a community
of readers.
Some I know,
most I don't.
They're in many countries,
some that I've only heard of.
They speak many languages,
but they are good
at understanding mine,
at understanding me.
We may not always agree,
but we are
family,
a scattered,
human family.

There was a phrase that I wanted to use in a poem, but my hands were in dishwater and I didn't stop to write it down. Now the dishes are clean, and the phrase and the poem are gone. Next time, the dishes can go to hell. Had I been Lord Byron, I'd have had a domestic for such chores. But then, I'd have had a club foot as well. Had I been Bobby Burns, I'd have been too drunk to do the fucking dishes, but I'd have been pissing poems and songs, still loved centuries later. Had I been Coleridge, my memory would have sufficed. And you can bet that my Irish grandmother, for whom poetry was a survival skill, would have remembered those lines.

Gymniad VIII (con traducción)

There is no part of the body
that is obscene.
It is all holy,
it is all blessed.
It is all natural,
whether at work
or at rest.

We must outgrow the lies
that sought
to control us,
if we are to have
a better future.

No hay parte del cuerpo
que sea obscena.
Es todo santo,
es todo bendecido.
Es todo natural,
sea en trabajo
o en descanso.

Tenemos que ser ya grande
para las mentiras
que querían controlarnos,
si vamos a tener
un futuro mejor.

Esta é terra nova

[portunhol surenho]

Esta é terra nova
mas eu soy anticuado
e sempre digo gracias
en vez de obrigado.

¿Qué hemos aprendido?

¿Qué hemos aprendido,
después de tantos siglos,
contados por los cientos?
Que es mejor no orinar
contra el viento.

Mas a un tiempo hemos llegado
en que tenemos que olvidar
muchas lecciones del pasado


What have we learned,
after so many centuries,
counted by the hundreds?
That it's better not to piss
against the wind.

But we've come to a time
in which we must forget
many lessons of the past.