jacketmagazine (36)

Translated by Peter Golub

***

Lena after 1:18 of playing time
against Nastya thanks her
parents, trainer, sponsors,
the organizers, the fans,
next year
I plan to work on my serve.

Nastya after 1:18 of playing time
against Lena thanks her
parents, trainer, sponsors,
fans, and now let us have
a minute of silence
for the children, for in September (she trips)
we cannot forget, silence please (weeping)

I love Nastya. I could give a rat’s ass about her serve.

***

yet another one for S. Lvovsky

you get out of the bath still wet
winter
across the cold floor flop flop
to the dry towel in the other room

and you touch your forehead
so familiar and recognizable
to say: well yeah, she’s still all wound up
exactly, wound up

remember Leibniz’s formula
forget if there’s any bread left
finger hurts, healing in this Thursday
tomorrow Friday

towel with the bunny flop flop not a bad
return
the cut will close

so will winter

***

I remembered the example but not the principle
look, how the wind swings the door
how the curtain pirouettes

and the law was forgotten
something like “until you peered at the thing,
you will not understand it”
or “you won’t know a damn unless you’ve tried it”
I remember the general details

this is how authority is gained
one needs no tie or brass knuckles
nor entrance into NATO
one does not need it

winter riding in the taxi
don’t know, when to say stop, um, I need to go

Deyneka’s Dream

I wake up with a sense of failure.
— J. Stenilovskaya, Zeno’s Dream

The scolding sun
On the veranda sleeps the painter Deyneka
Dreaming of his models:
Ivan, Andrew, Nickolas, Eugene
Ivan kisses his hand, Andrew kisses his neck
Nickolas kisses his soft belly
Eugene eagerly goes for the mouth
The painter wakes up and strokes
His warm palm with a cool brush — this is Ivan
With a strong hand he clenches his own throat — this is Andrew
On his stomach — Nickolas plants
One on his lips — Eugene’s bright purple drool.
I wake up and search for some escape

Crimean Sojourn to the Movies

susan sarandon — from the family felidae — doesn’t like to cry — and never cries

we aren’t let into the movies — but they write, that it’ll be fun — in the same green chairs — like it was 40 years ago

the church on the bank: — din-dong din-dong — susan saran-din-dong — somewhere london-din-dong — and the same rain

if the rain was a wall — like the berlin one for instance — the one that cut the world in half — and the world would divide — macerating like a polymer

blah what a bunch of crap, jesus — um what was I on about: wet people aren’t like anyone — dry people are not pals with the wet ones — the dry fall far from the wet — and if you get caught in the rain after the film — it only makes me glad

***

well hell then what — what hell what then — wax with one hand — leaning with the cheek — rubbing with a leg — she’s a dyed in the wool pioneer — perfect pallor, not a drop of tan — not a gram of conscience — in a shirt, sleeves rolled up — a tie white as her — with a book without letters, like a living

as if dead asking: — “kiss me, moscow girl, — kiss lenin, he lives between my legs

this time didn’t go anywhere — life swung on the swing — more has happened here trust me — lenin lives, I love...you kiss”

that’s how she speaks and conjugates — bends the branches toward me — slips her glance over my figure — asks — about the last rush — and the old nurse takes out the pails — shaking her finger at the eternal floozy

***

grandmother says into the phone:
by no means are you to be cremated
you were baptized
you are an Orthodox Christian
we have to lay down together, like pees in a pod
mother and son
that’s how Kolya was buried

you cannot trust them, I know this for certain,
they’ll substitute the remains with birch logs
ashes with twigs, incorruptible kindling
and everything altogether, don’t you understand
all together all in one pile, but totally unrelated
they fake the most important thing

***

in an hour it is possible to invent a hundred ships
in an hour it is possible to make fifty rubles in tips
although it is rather cold and I am shaking
forgive me, but I will never
give birth to your child
one can give a little head, write a sonnet afterwards
it is possible to say your name a thousand times in vain
they draw, I watch them draw
some of them are successful, some not

in an hour one can catch pneumonia
be so kind as to draw pneumonia for me
be so kind as to draw how terrible it is without you at night
when I cough, bent over, spine showing
they draw it

***

soon sweetie, very soon, after they
finish the tunnel under Serebryany Bor
close all of life’s imagined holes
remodel the Bolshoi
we’ll be happy as mushrooms
warm and wet

I plant an orange seed into the sand
someone passes the ball and I make a three point shot
people hand me money as I walk the streets

I wake up and see a Japanese motorcycle under my window
I make an omelet and it doesn’t stick to the pan

***

little sacks with little girls
little sacks with apple seeds
out of a seed a little apple tree will grow
out of a little girl a fairy tale

and every third batch has a little boy
but nothing will grow out of him
put him in a basket
ship him by river mail
according to the address on the label
with the receipt from the store

Jacket magazine

***

Lena after 1:18 of playing time
against Nastya thanks her
parents, trainer, sponsors,
the organizers, the fans,
next year
I plan to work on my serve.

Nastya after 1:18 of playing time
against Lena thanks her
parents, trainer, sponsors,
fans, and now let us have
a minute of silence
for the children, for in September (she trips)
we cannot forget, silence please (weeping)

I love Nastya. I could give a rat’s ass about her serve.

***

yet another one for S. Lvovsky

you get out of the bath still wet
winter
across the cold floor flop flop
to the dry towel in the other room

and you touch your forehead
so familiar and recognizable
to say: well yeah, she’s still all wound up
exactly, wound up

remember Leibniz’s formula
forget if there’s any bread left
finger hurts, healing in this Thursday
tomorrow Friday

towel with the bunny flop flop not a bad
return
the cut will close

so will winter

***

I remembered the example but not the principle
look, how the wind swings the door
how the curtain pirouettes

and the law was forgotten
something like “until you peered at the thing,
you will not understand it”
or “you won’t know a damn unless you’ve tried it”
I remember the general details

this is how authority is gained
one needs no tie or brass knuckles
nor entrance into NATO
one does not need it

winter riding in the taxi
don’t know, when to say stop, um, I need to go




Deyneka’s Dream

I wake up with a sense of failure.
— J. Stenilovskaya, Zeno’s Dream

The scolding sun
On the veranda sleeps the painter Deyneka
Dreaming of his models:
Ivan, Andrew, Nickolas, Eugene
Ivan kisses his hand, Andrew kisses his neck
Nickolas kisses his soft belly
Eugene eagerly goes for the mouth
The painter wakes up and strokes
His warm palm with a cool brush — this is Ivan
With a strong hand he clenches his own throat — this is Andrew
On his stomach — Nickolas plants
One on his lips — Eugene’s bright purple drool.
I wake up and search for some escape



***

grandmother says into the phone:
by no means are you to be cremated
you were baptized
you are an Orthodox Christian
we have to lay down together, like pees in a pod
mother and son
that’s how Kolya was buried

you cannot trust them, I know this for certain,
they’ll substitute the remains with birch logs
ashes with twigs, incorruptible kindling
and everything altogether, don’t you understand
all together all in one pile, but totally unrelated
they fake the most important thing

***

in an hour it is possible to invent a hundred ships
in an hour it is possible to make fifty rubles in tips
although it is rather cold and I am shaking
forgive me, but I will never
give birth to your child
one can give a little head, write a sonnet afterwards
it is possible to say your name a thousand times in vain
they draw, I watch them draw
some of them are successful, some not

in an hour one can catch pneumonia
be so kind as to draw pneumonia for me
be so kind as to draw how terrible it is without you at night
when I cough, bent over, spine showing
they draw it

***

soon sweetie, very soon, after they
finish the tunnel under Serebrany Bor
close all of life’s imagined holes
remodel the Bolshoi
we’ll be happy as mushrooms
warm and wet

I plant an orange seed into the sand
someone passes the ball and I make a three point shot
people hand me money as I walk the streets

I wake up and see a Japanese motorcycle under my window
I make an omelet and it doesn’t stick to the pan

***

little sacks with little girls
little sacks with apple seeds
out of a seed a little apple tree will grow
out of a little girl a fairy tale

and every third batch has a little boy
but nothing will grow out of him
put him in a basket
ship him by river mail
according to the address on the label
with the receipt from the store


Tr. Peter Golub

some poems /2004/

Lena after 1 hour 18 minutes of the game
against Nastya says thank you
parents, couch, sponsores,
organizers, fans,
next year
I will necessarily improve my serving.

Nastya after 1 hour 18 minutes of the game
against Lena says thank you
parents, couch, sponsores,
fans, and now let us all
stand up, one minute's silence in remembrance of
the children, in September (hesitates)
impossible to forget, come on, get up (cries)

I love Nastya. And I don't care about her serving.

_____________

I was afraid of sliding the folty ice-hill
It was alien to me or something
To slide – to climb – footsteps – hold on – to slide – to climb
With a piece of cardboard
Screams, childish fearlessness, wet mittens

Perfect snow men, rarely snow women, fortresses
Big-headed animals without fur
Creation because of unbelieveing
In possibility to climb and then to slide

Those ones were breaking my snow men, who were not scared

But the snow men remained, while no one else remained

_____________

That won’t be enough for everyone, the quantity’s limited
There’s a paper with an instruction drawn on it
But noone uses it
Understanding, that it’s better badly, but in your own way
Awry, but it seems like remaining

You’ll suddenly shudder when you’ll imagine:
I will rot, die, get old prematurely,
You’ll freeze in pedestrian subway
On the Prospect of Peace*

As some, let us assume, North Korea
Sinks because Kim Chen Ir has caught cold

_____________

soon, my darling, very soon and fast
they’ll lay a tunnel under the silver forest
patch all of the life-contrieved holes
fix the Bolshoy theatre
and we’ll feel good
as agarics in spawn – warmely and dumply

I plant an orange pit in sand;
They give me a ball and I make a three-points throw
People in the streets present me money for no particular reason
I wake up and see a Japanese bike beneath my window
I fry scrambled eggs and they’re not burnt

_____________

you’ll never become Angela Davis
you’ve had it, but it’s gone along unknown ways
born loser, bum child
with eyes of glossy kind

so who will play for interest and
will hold a shed by one’s free hand
(a lamp pillar, an amber shiver,
a bar)

Or easier: inject into each other some ink - these
blue dragons and a tank** along the whole chest
To know, how sensitive this flesh is
And how insensible is the gist


(translated by Anastasia Afanaseva)
_____________
* subway station
** From anecdote: - Please, make me tank tattoo.
Half-hour later: - Done.
- Already???
- What’s the problem – only 4 letters.

poems

* * *
We hear: tuberculosis dispensary, write: a lunatic asylum
A pair of weeks approximately and you can be dreamed of easily
In lilies, in wet waterweed, or in greedy mud of the bayou
You will be peeping and sleeping, in your shoes with a bubbling sound

hear: a concert by people's request, write: a theatre near the mic
think just logical: how to count the bows at this all-night gig
with your face scraping the pavement, hear a violin out of tune
everything is upturned - but even this way I'm well

hear: a black market trade, write: a seasonal sale
of one's own body - summer - I didn't save much anyway
not even a sugar-basin, a toy plush dog or a kitten,
or even a black silver spoon - hence these vitamin pills I'm eatin'.

(translated by Georgy Manaev)

* * *

but anna
anna is getting married
anna will be a wife to a man
anna – who is already a husband
to every wife in this town
smiling cunningly she doesn’t say a word
facial expression that of a fox
anna anna be happy I suppose
(I speak, yet I do not feel)

*

along with this ticket
we got cought in the rain
and the colors, the colors
they got washed away
and the letters, the letters
got blown away
white leaves scattered around.
and the portrait, the portrait
ran down to the ground
ran down along with the rain

for a split second I was engulfed with fear
for the autumn of your death resembles this day

(translated bu L.Berezovskaya)