"In quicksilver puddles/ we soften like newspaper boats"


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Issue 13: Free Form

Issue 12: The Necessary Ear

Issue 11: The Necessary Eye

Issue 10: Out on a Limb

Issue 9: The Missing Body

Issue 8: The Lily

Issue 7: Passages

Issue 6: No More Tears


Anita Simonjetz
translated from the Polish by Frank L. Vigoda



Emergences

Let's emerge from ourselves In spite of the laws of physics
contrary to the flow Against the current of logic
in the air growing thick with sudden allusions
in dark rooms Around us things run

in straight jackets They round off the edges
in their thirties Put on life belt rings
in their forties Whither on dried stems
in sad autumn gardens Potato fields redolent

with the yellow smoke of spider webs At dawn
fruits open on bluish stalks And
we are capable of almost anything Like smartass
grumbling about spilt fog in the reeds Or

a too early frost Or arms with no room
for breathing Around us it's raining and the calendar
learns to swim with ophelia In quicksilver puddles
we soften like newspaper boats In the dew

we dabble in ourselves We see rolling pumpkins
suddenly ripe One breaks away from the patch
and shines And starts to sing

with human voice

 

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Frank L. Vigoda is a Boston-based translator who translates from and to Polish. Among his translations is a volume of poetry by R. Wojaczek and a collection of writings by Aleksander Wat. He is currently working on a volume of translations, Poems from Nieszuflada.

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