John Mateer

After Returning From A Voyage Of Exploration

Language: english

Translations: german (Heimkehr nach einer Entdeckungsreise), french (Au retour d'un voyage d'exploration), portuguese (Depois de voltar de uma viagem de exploração), slovenian (Po vrnitvi z odprave), swedish (Efter att ha återvänt från en upptäckssresa)

After Returning From A Voyage Of Exploration

On the pillow John Mateer’s sleepy head
is a goldfish bowl aswirl with Venetian water,
and on that galleon, that luminous toy,
he is at the helm, telescope to his eye,
swearing he can’t see Australia.

And when his caravel glides into the Tejo,
as poised and cerebral as a black swan,
he calls for a glass of port and a pastel de nata,
then takes to his bed in a quiet hotel in Alfama,

and dreams the dream:
that one day there will be a poet
named John Mateer, just as there was once,
off the edge of maps, a monster
called Australia.

Translations:

Language: german

Heimkehr nach einer Entdeckungsreise

Auf dem Kissen liegt John Mateers müdes Haupt,
ein Goldfischglas mit verwirbeltem venedischem Wasser
und auf der Galleone, diesem leuchtenden Spielzeug,
steht er am Ruder, ein Fernrohr am Auge,
schwört, dass er Australien nicht sehen kann.

Und wenn seine Karavelle in den Tejo gleitet,
so souverän und feierlich wie ein schwarzer Schwan,
ruft er nach einem Glas Portwein und Pastel de nata,
geht zu Bett in einem stillen Hotel in Alfama,

und träumt den Traum:
dass eines Tages es einen Dichter geben wird,
mit Namen John Mateer, so wie es einmal,
am Rande der Landkarten, ein Monster gab,
das Australien hieß.

Language: french

Au retour d'un voyage d'exploration

Sur l'oreiller, la tête assoupie de John Mateer
          est un bocal au tournoiement d’eau vénitienne,
                      et dans ce galion, ce jouet lumineux,
          il est à la barre, longue-vue contre l’oeil,
          jurant ne pas voir l’Australie.

          Et comme sa caravelle glisse sur le Tage,
                      aussi délicate et cérébrale qu’un cygne noir,
          il demande un verre de porto, une tartelette de nata,
                      s’enfouit dans les draps d’un hôtel calme d’Alfama,

          et dans le rêve, il rêve :
                      un jour vivra un poète nommé
          John Mateer, exactement comme autrefois,
                      dans le vide des cartes, un monstre
          appelé Australie.

Language: portuguese

Depois de voltar de uma viagem de exploração

Na almofada a cabeça sonolenta de John Mateer
é um aquário às voltas com água veneziana
e naquele galeão, aquele brinquedo luminoso,
ele está ao leme, de telescópio no olho,
jurando que não consegue ver a Austrália.

E quando a sua caravela desliza Tejo adentro,
tão colocada e cerebral como um cisne negro,
ele pede um copo de porto e um pastel de nata,
depois recolhe ao quarto num calmo hotel em Alfama,

e sonha o sonho:
que um dia haverá um poeta
chamado John Mateer, tal como houve uma vez,
para além dos limites dos mapas, um monstro
chamado Austrália.

Language: slovenian

Po vrnitvi z odprave

Na zglavniku je zaspana glava Johna Mateerja,
steklena bučka z zlato ribico, v njej se vrtinči beneška voda
in na tem galeonu, tej svetleči igrači,
stoji za krmilom on, gleda skozi teleskop
in prisega, da ne vidi Avstralije.

In ko njegova karavela zdrsi po Teji,
dostojanstvena in razumna kot črni labod,
naroči kozarec porta in pastel de nata,
potem se umakne v posteljo tihega hotela v Alfami

in sanja sanje:
da bo nekega dne živel pesnik
po imenu John Mateer, kot je nekoč obstajala
onkraj zemljevidov pošast,
imenovana Avstralija.

Language: swedish

Efter att ha återvänt från en upptäckssresa

På kudden är John Mateers sömniga huvud

en guldfiskskål med en virvel av venetianskt vatten

och pä den spanska galleonen, denna lysande leksak

står han till rörs med kikaren vid ögat

och svar att han inte kan se Australien

Och när hans karavell glider in mot Tejo

så värdig och cerebral som en svart svan

beställer han ett glas portvin och en pastel de nata

och går till sängs in ett rofyllt hotell i Alfama

och drömmer drömmen:

att det en dag ska finnas en poet

vid namn John Mateer, precis som det en gång fanns

bortom kanten av kartorna, ett odjur

vid namn Australien

John Mateer

* 01.01.1971, Johannesburg, South Africa
lives in: Perth, Australia

John Mateer was born in Johannesburg. He spent his childhood in South Africa and Canada, and shortly before being conscripted moved with his parents and sisters to Australia. He travels frequently, often to Asia and

Europe.

When asked whether he feels he is Australian or South African, he usually

falls silent.

The novelist JM Coetzee, writing on his South African poems, states:

“Written from the rim of the far-flung South African diaspora, these poems

by Mateer roll back the tide of forgetting, giving us one glimpse after

another of a beloved homeland.” While the Australian critic Martin Harrison

has suggested that Mateer “is a poet who speaks towards the centre of

Australian culture.” And the Portuguese poet Manuel de Freitas, in a

review of the booklet The Travels/Viagens, sees that in the poems there

“is an “I” rightfully translated into the language, itself nomadic, of Camões,

Pessanha or Gil de Carvalho…”

Mateer’s poems have appeared in books in Australia, the UK and Austria,

and in ephemeral booklets in some of the places about which he has

written: South Africa, Australia, Japan, Sumatra, Macau and Portugal.

His most recent publications are The West: Australian Poems 1989-2009

(Fremantle Press), The Azanians (T41), Ex-White/Einmal Weiss: South

African Poems (Sisyphus Verlag), and the forthcoming Namban/Southern

Barbarians, poems about the Portuguese world (T41 and Giramondo).

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