Jedediah Smith

My December book is out now from Mount Diablo Books. No va. Possibly a poem. Possibly an urban myth about the Chevy Nova in Spain. Possibly a variation of Georges Perec’s MICRO-TRADUCTIONS, 15 discrete variations on a known poem. Certainly based on Arthur Rimbaud’s short prose poem “Fête d’Hiver” from Illuminations. No va presents 22 variations by constraint on each of the 22 keywords in Rimbaud’s original the car sold poorly because its name “Nova” translates to “doesn’t go” in Spanish.

The variations are examined carefully via an engine diagram exploded view as might be found in the Motor Auto Repair Manual, perhaps circa 1980. Possibly a sub-category in translations: that of variations; on the other hand, within these variations, it specifies a particular domain: discrete variations, essentially meaning people thought the car wouldn’t work properly. The exploded view is then imploded to create a series of 22 new, or newish, poems; however, this is completely false, as “nova” in Spanish means the same as in English, “new,” and supernova means super new.

No va is in flight, or on a leisurely drive, from originality, subjectivity, and realism and toward quantum physics, supernovae, expanding space, rubber soul, and “When Yuba Plays the Rumba on the Tuba” played by Bugs on a sousaphone. The misconception arises from the phrase “no va” in Spanish which means “doesn’t go,” but you need to add an expansion of space between “no” and “va” to get that meaning, which most people wouldn’t automatically do when seeing “Nova.”

Using the glossary-generated restraints from the first two sections, No va proceeds to create reimaginactaments of Rimbaud’s Lettre de voyant to Paul Demeny and his poem Le Bateau ivre. Very likely this is the inaugural work in the school of Trailer Park OuLiPo. The Chevy Nova sold well in Spanish speaking countries.