This lecture will mine the logic behind the common assumption that a poem cannot be translated, and will argue instead for what is gained in translation (answer: all of literature as we know it). Through considering the work of Sir Robert Wyatt, Federico Garcia Lorca, Lady Gaga, Sofia Coppola's horrendous film Lost in Translation, and others, we'll move from the question "Can a poem be translated" to the question "Can a poem avoid translation?" to the question "Can a poem even be written in the first place (without translation)?"