cat shadow sculpture

Instructions on writing a piece called “Waiting for Gato.”

1. Google an excerpt from Waiting for Godot

2. Using ‘find and replace’ MS function replace “Godot” with “Cat.”

3. Use online translator to translate from English into Spanish.

4. Replace non-verbal sounds with “meow.”

WAITING FOR GATO

Estragon: No oigo nada.

Vladimir: MEOW! (Ellos escuchan. Estragón pierde el equilibrio, casi se cae. Aferra al brazo de Vladimir, que se tambalea. Escuchan, todos juntos.) Tampoco I.

Suspiros de alivio. Se relajan y por separado.

Estragon: Me diste un susto.

Vladimir: Pensé que era él.

Estragon: ¿Quién?

Vladimir: Gato.

Estragon: ¡Meow! El viento en los juncos.

Vladimir: Juraría que oí gritos.

Estragon: ¿Y por qué se nota?

Vladimir: En su caballo.

(Silencio.)

Estragon: (violento). ¡Tengo hambre!

Vladimir: ¿Quieres una zanahoria?

Estragon: ¿Es eso todo lo que hay?

I’m assuming we have some readers fluent in Spanish. Did anything get lost in translation? I’m skeptical of all these online translator things. Don’t trust the internet (case in point with some tranny porn I saw last night).

Does the ease of technology like cut and paste/find and replace augment or detract from the artifice and appropriation often employed in satire? My “Waiting for Gato” example is glib, but I get the feeling that writers often refer to other text when writing. We compose on computers a click away from google, wikipedia, etc. Can’t tell if all this accessibility is a tool or hindrance. If facility lends itself to unthoughtfulness, maybe we should write by hand again. That would slow things way down, and weed out douches like me — and enough with the puns, cat stand it no more.