Wind, Water, Rock
by Octavio Paz | translated by Gilbert Wesley Purdy
The water drills the rock,
the wind disperses the water,
the rock detains the wind.
Water, wind, rock.
The wind sculpts the rock,
the rock cups the water,
the water escapes and is wind.
Rock, wind, water.
The wind sings in its turnings,
the water murmurs in its going,
the rock unmoved says nothing.
Wind, water, rock.
Each is other and is nothing:
among their empty names
they pass and cease to be
water, rock, wind.
Octavio Paz (1914-1998) was born in Mexico City, Mexico. He grew up under poor circumstances, but access to his grandfather’s library sparked his interest in literature at an early age. Having already begun writing poetry as a teenager, he made his literary debut with the poetry collection Luna silvestre (Wild Moon) in 1933. During a trip to Spain in 1938, he became embroiled in the Spanish Civil War. He returned to Mexico, where he worked as a poet, journalist and translator. Beginning in 1946, he served as a diplomat for 20 years. During this period he published numerous collections of poetry and prose.
One of the best known works by Octavio Paz is El laberinto de la soledad (1950) (The Labyrinth of Solitude), a collection of essays in which he analyzes Mexican history and culture. To this point he had published only poetry collections. He founded several literary magazines, including Vuelta and El hijo pródigo. He was influenced by several different ideologies: Marxism, surrealism, existentialism, Buddhism and Hinduism. In his later works, love and eroticism were prominent themes.
Gilbert Wesley Purdy has published poetry, prose and translation (from Italian, Spanish and Latin) in many journals, paper and electronic, including: Jacket Magazine, Poetry International (San Diego State University), The Georgia Review (University of Georgia), Grand Street, SLANT (University of Central Arkansas),The Evansville Review (University of Evansville), Consciousness Literature and the Arts (University of Wales, Aberystwyth), Orbis (UK),and Valparaiso Poetry Review. His work in online journalism has been cited by Newsweek.UK and Huffington Post.
Ming Di is a Chinese poet based in the US with six books of poetry in Chinese and four in collaborative translation including River Merchant’s Wife (Marick Press, 2012). She attended Boston College and Boston University and taught Chinese at BU before moving to California. She has translated many poets from English to Chinese including Marianne Moore, Anne Carson, etc. She edited and co-translated New Cathay: Contemporary Chinese Poetry (Tupelo Press, 2013). She selected and translated with Neil Aitken The Book of Cranes (Vagabond Press, 2015) and with Jennifer Stern Empty Chairs – Poems by Liu Xia (Graywolf Press, 2015). She co-founded Poetry East West journal and serves as the China editor for Poetry International Rotterdam.