Aeroplane

Aeroplane

Kyn Taniya
Translated by Anthony Seidman and David Shook
Bilingual edition in Spanish and English

A key figure in Mexico's 1920s estridentista avant- garde, Kyn Taniya’s poetry blossoms from the act of everyday translation. The poems reflect the fact that we all live between languages, that we all speak our own idiolects, that none of us speaks any language perfectly because there is no perfect language.

The Mexican poet Kyn Taniya (A.K.A. Luis Quintanillia, 1900-1980) was born and grew up in Paris, where his father worked as a diplomat. His house was frequented by Tablada, Urbina, Apollinaire, Rodin, and his godfather, the Mexican poet Amado Nervo. He visited Mexico for the first time in 1918, and entered the foreign service in 1921, eventually serving as Mexico’s Ambassador to the Soviet Union. He began writing poetry in French, which he later translated into Spanish, as in the case of his first book, Aeroplane (1923). Though he published little, he was an important figure in Mexico’s estridentista avant-garde, and in 1924 he founded the Mexican Theatre of the Bat, modeled after La Chauve-Souris, which he had seen in New York City.

Anthony Seidman and David Shook are both poets and translators in greater Los Angeles. Both have lived for significant periods in Mexico, where they remain active in the literary community. Together they have translated Salvador Novo’s Confetti-Ash (The Bitter Oleaner Press, 2015) and edit the Sin Papeles chapbook series, which showcases the most innovative contemporary writing from Mexico’s porous border region.