Quan vaig decidir tancar "El terra i el cel", vaig compartir-lo amb amics que sabia que em podrien ajudar a donar-li els últims retocs necessaris. Martí Sales, Gerard Altaió, Josep Pedrals, Francesc Garriga, Lis Costa, Arnau Pons, David Castillo. D’aquestes converses vaig aprendre molt. De fet, el títol del llibre va anar canviant: "La terra i el cel", "Terra i cel", "El terra i el cel". Calia també anar despullant alguns poemes, desprendre el llibre del jo. Crec que va ser en aquest moment de canvi que amb Mopno vam començar un seguit de gravacions, entre converses i complicitats: moltes idees del llibre ens vinculen.
Un dels versos que va desaparèixer va ser “adorm l’afany”, del poema que clou aquesta peça. En el moment de la versió final del llibre vaig pensar que tenia massa de joc fonètic per a un llibre que defugia l’espectacularitat. Però res el definia millor que aquest vers, em deia Mopno. I tenia raó. "Observa, arrisca’t a no dir-hi la teva". Aquí, doncs, reapareix aquest joc i aquesta veritat.
Perquè un dels propòsits en les gravacions originals dels poemes era esvair la intenció, fer desaparèixer l’afany d’expressar. Sovint llegia diverses vegades un poema, fins a esborrar la veu. A partir d’aquestes gravacions, Mopno ha treballat per estendre un fil de cap a cap, per alterar-lo des de les entranyes. Era l’única manera de fer so d’uns poemes enclosos en un llibre que –aquests sí– no demanen ser recitats, que s’acompleixen en la pàgina.
When I decided to tie up "El terra i el cel" [Ground and Sky], I called on a series of friends I knew could help me with the finishing touches. Martí Sales, Gerard Altaió, Josep Pedrals, Francesc Garriga, Lis Costa, Arnau Pons, David Castillo. I learnt a lot from talking to them and the title itself morphed from "La terra i el cel" [Earth and Sky] to "El terra i el cel" [Ground and Sky]. I was also keen to strip down some poems and wring my own voice out of the book. I think it was at this time of flux that Mopno and I began work on a series of recordings that were half conversations, half knowing glances: we’re bound together by many of the ideas in the book.
One of the lines that got dropped was “adorm l’afany” [“let go of longing”], from the last poem in this piece. When I was putting the final version together, I thought this line was a bit too phonetically flashy for an avowedly unassuming book. And yet Mopno was adamant that it encapsulated the book perfectly. And he was right. "Observa, arrisca’t a no dir-hi la teva" [Just watch, be bold enough to bite your tongue]. And so this pithy advice has reappeared here.
Because one of the original purposes of recording the poems was indeed to stifle intent, to let go of the longing to express something. I would often read a poem over and over again until my voice was
completely numb. Mopno took these recordings, reached deep inside and wove a thread between them. Somehow he’s managed to create sound from a set of poems which—for once—weren’t deliberately written to be read aloud, but to live and die on the page.
