Autobiography by Nazim Hikmet

Autobiography

I was born in 1902

I never once went back to my birthplace

I don't like to turn back

at three I served as a pasha's grandson in Aleppo

at nineteen as a student at Moscow Communist University

at forty-nine I was back in Moscow as the Tcheka Party's guest

and I've been a poet since I was fourteen

some people know all about plants some about fish

I know separation

some people know the names of the stars by heart

I recite absences

I've slept in prisons and in grand hotels

I've known hunger even a hunger strike and there's almost no food

I haven't tasted

at thirty they wanted to hang me

at forty-eight to give me the Peace Prize

which they did

at thirty-six I covered four square meters of concrete in half a year

at fifty-nine I flew from Prague to Havana in eighteen hours

I never saw Lenin I stood watch at his coffin in '24

in '61 the tomb I visit is his books

they tried to tear me away from my party

it didn't work

nor was I crushed under the falling idols

in '51 I sailed with a young friend into the teeth of death

in '52 I spent four months flat on my back with a broken heart

waiting to die

I was jealous of the women I loved

I didn't envy Charlie Chaplin one bit

I deceived my women

I never talked my friends' backs

I drank but not every day

I earned my bread money honestly what happiness

out of embarrassment for others I lied

I lied so as not to hurt someone else

but I also lied for no reason at all

I've ridden in trains planes and cars

most people don't get the chance

I went to opera

most people haven't even heard of the opera

and since '21 I haven't gone to the places most people visit

mosques churches temples synagogues sorcerers

but I've had my coffee grounds read

my writings are published in thirty or forty languages

in my Turkey in my Turkish they're banned

cancer hasn't caught up with me yet

and nothing says it will

I'll never be a prime minister or anything like that

and I wouldn't want such a life

nor did I go to war

or burrow in bomb shelters in the bottom of the night

and I never had to take to the road under diving planes

but I fell in love at almost sixty

in short comrades

even if today in Berlin I'm croaking of grief

I can say I've lived like a human being

and who knows

how much longer I'll live

what else will happen to me

This autobiography was written 

in east Berlin on 11 September 1961 

(Trans. by Randy Blasing and Mutlu Konuk)

Love Poem with Tumor and Petrified Dog by Kaveh Akbar

Love Poem with Tumor and Petrified Dog

There is a tumor in my sacroiliac joint 

and snowflakes in my coffee. 

I’m in Iowa with the cats

and you’re in Pompeii.

You send a video: lizards rushing into limestone

which remind you of being a kid in Florida. 

In Florida we memorized sonnets

while leaping around green anoles. 

I’ve forgotten the poems. 

Your black tights, even in that heat. 

Mostly that’s what I remember.

It’s okay to say it straight. 

Like: I’m scared, still,

that I might be dying. 

Pomegranates growing from Pompeiian ash, 

scandalizing propriety—

you send a picture and I do not say,

It just looks like a tree

or Another of God’s secrets 

wasted on me. 

Which part of the mind 

gets you to the soul?

I am reading St. John of the Cross,

a character you might’ve put in a poem:

In the evening of life,

we will be judged on love alone. 

Some petrified dog. Table bread,

a painted doorway. 

You’ve been with me forever.

You know all my angels.

How could I say no to you, 

taking off your earrings to kiss me?

The Dictator in Prison by Adèlia Prado

The Dictator in Prison

 

The dictator is writing poetry,

poor fellow,

poor us for saying

poor fellow,

since he, too, has a memory

to conjure orange trees,

little bowls of pudding,

laughter and pleasant conversation—

a paradise of lowly delights.

The impatiens have barely opened

and the bees are already busy among them,

turning the day perfect.

Let’s not ridicule the bloodthirsty man

who, under the eyes of the guards,

pours his desire—equal to anyone’s—

into a notebook:

I want to be happy, I want an elastic body,

I want a horse, a sword and a good war!

The dictator is devout,

he observes his canonic hours

like the monks in the choir,

and dozes over the Koran.

I who live outside the walls

tremble for the fate

of a man who pounded the ground

with his iron boot.

Let no one interrupt the outcast’s prayer

or ridicule his verses.

God’s mercy is strange,

its mystery crushing.

For some unfathomable reason

I am not the prisoner.

My compassion is too large

to be my own.

He who invented hearts

loves this poor wretch with mine.

(translated by Ellen Doré Watson)

Hidden Things by Constantine P. Cavafy (Two Translations)

Hidden Things

 

From all I did and from all I said

they shouldn’t try to find out who I was.

An obstacle was there and it distorted

my actions and the way I lived my life.

An obstacle was there and it stopped me

on many occasions when I was going to speak.

The most unnoticed of my actions

and the most covert of all my writings:

from these alone will they come to know me.

But perhaps it’s not worth squandering

so much care and trouble on puzzling me out.

Afterwards –in some perfect society –

someone else who’s fashioned like me

will surely appear and be free to do as he pleases.

 

(Translated by Daniel Mendelsohn)

Hidden Things

 

From all I did and all I said

let no one try to find out who I was.

An obstacle was there that changed the pattern

of my actions and the manner of my life.

An obstacle was often there

to stop me when I’d begin to speak.

From my most unnoticed actions,

my most veiled writing—

from these alone will I be understood.

But maybe it isn’t worth so much concern,

so much effort to discover who I really am.

Later, in a more perfect society,

someone else made just like me

is certain to appear and act freely.

 

(translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard)

The Gods Abandon Antony by Constantine P. Cavafy (Two Translations)

The Gods Abandon Antony

When suddenly, at midnight, there comes the sound

of an invisible procession passing by

with exquisite music playing, with voices raised—

your good fortune, which now gives way; all your efforts’

ill-starred outcome; the plans you made for life,

which turned out wrong: don’t mourn them uselessly.

Like one who’s long prepared, like someone brave,

bid farewell to her, to Alexandria, who is leaving.

Above all do not fool yourself, don’t say

that it was a dream, that your ears deceived you;

don’t stoop to futile hopes like these.

Like one who’s long prepared, like someone brave

as befits a man who’s been blessed with a city like this,

go without faltering toward the window

and listen with deep emotion, but not

with the entreaties and the whining of a coward,

to the sounds—a final entertainment—

to the exquisite instruments of that initiate crew,

and bid farewell to her, to Alexandria, whom you are losing.

(Translated by Daniel Mendelsohn)

The Gods Abandon Antony

When suddenly, at midnight, you hear

an invisible procession going by

with exquisite music, voices,

don’t mourn your luck that’s failing now,

work gone wrong, your plans

all proving deceptive—don’t mourn them uselessly.

As one long prepared, and graced with courage,

say goodbye to her, the Alexandria that is leaving.

Above all, don’t fool yourself, don’t say

it was a dream, your ears deceived you:

don’t degrade yourself with empty hopes like these.

As one long prepared, and graced with courage,

as is right for you who proved worthy of this kind of city,

go firmly to the window

and listen with deep emotion, but not

with the whining, the pleas of a coward;

listen—your final delectation—to the voices,

to the exquisite music of that strange procession,

and say goodbye to her, to the Alexandria you are losing.  

(Translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard)

Weather Forecast by Adélia Prado

Weather Forecast

 

The spirit of rebellion

also called hopelessness                                                              

has begun another sinister round.   

His dark and cold come straight from hell.

I was expecting happy days from May,

but so far the only sunny thing was Albertina’s news

that she was chosen to sing “Jesus is the bread of heaven.”

That’s bread without butter, Albertina,                                             

just so you know.

We eat it with bitter herbs

(Translated by Ellen Doré Watson)  

Cul-De-Sac by Andrea Cohen

Cul-De-Sac

Like all tyrants,

my mother made

decrees. The last

straw was the law

that said: no frogs

inside the house.

The lousy universe!

I was seven and ready

to flee with nothing. At

least take a sandwich,

my mother said,

tucking a foil brick

into the kerchief

I’d tied to a stick. I

was a real hobo.

I barely watched her

watch me walk off.

I got all the way

to the cul-de-sac

and sat down to eat.

It was a sandwich

full of grief––

grief and salt,

grief and tomatoes,

grief and cheese.

How far into

far did I go?

How is it

my glass of milk

was still cold

when I got home?

Still Life with Rose by Richard Scott

Still Life with Rose

 

Like a foreskin being pulled back, the damask 

reveals – pelvic bowl of pink-fringed shadow, 

dense sweet-meat bloom, coral’d cave, puce 

empyrean with no vanishing point, planetary blush! 

So let me in – where everything is new-born 

and crystalline, paused and protected – into that other 

world, that high-shine place of safety, arranged 

and sparking up like a bower. Almost every day, 

for some moments, I think about him – the black 

stems, thorns that can prick so deeply, whorl 

of serrated leaves, all just beneath, around – still 

gorgeousness – your petal’d cumulus, your constancy – 

helps me live. O rose keep on stunning for me – 

for all us boys who have been ruined by men.

I Dare You by Dorianne Laux

I Dare You

 

It’s autumn, and we’re getting rid

of books, getting ready to retire,

to move some place smaller, more

manageable. We’re living in reverse,

age-proofing the new house, nothing

on the floors to trip over, no hindrances

to the slowed mechanisms of our bodies,

a small table for two. Our world is

shrinking, our closets mostly empty,

gone the tight skirts and dancing shoes,

the bells and whistles. Now, when

someone comes to visit and admires

our complete works of Shakespeare,

the hawk feather in the open dictionary,

the iron angel on a shelf, we say

take them. This is the most important

time of all, the age of divestment,

knowing what we leave behind is

like the fragrance of blossoming trees

that grows stronger after

you’ve passed them, breathing

them in for a moment before

breathing them out. An ordinary

Tuesday when one of you says

I dare you, and the other one

just laughs.

 

It’s autumn, and we’re getting rid

of books, getting ready to retire,

to move some place smaller, more

manageable. We’re living in reverse,

age-proofing the new house, nothing

on the floors to trip over, no hindrances

to the slowed mechanisms of our bodies,

a small table for two. Our world is

shrinking, our closets mostly empty,

gone the tight skirts and dancing shoes,

the bells and whistles. Now, when

someone comes to visit and admires

our complete works of Shakespeare,

the hawk feather in the open dictionary,

the iron angel on a shelf, we say

take them. This is the most important

time of all, the age of divestment,

knowing what we leave behind is

like the fragrance of blossoming trees

that grows stronger after

you’ve passed them, breathing

them in for a moment before

breathing them out. An ordinary

Tuesday when one of you says

I dare you, and the other one

just laughs.

You Want Me Pale by Alfonsina Storni

You Want Me Pale

 

You want me pale,

Made of sea foam,

A mother of pearl.

Made of white lily,

Untouched among the others.

Made of thinning perfume.

Petals sealed.

 

Not touched by moonbeams,

Not called 'sister' by the daisies.

You want me like snow,

You want me white,

You want me pale.

 

You have had all

The cups in your hands,

Flowing fruit and honey,

Staining your lips dark.

You have been in the banquet

Laced with grapevines,

Relinquishing your meat,

Reveling in Bacchus.

You have been in the gardens,

Black with deception,

Wearing red and

Running into ruin.

 

You have kept your

Skeleton intact, and by

Miracles I do not know,

Still expect me to be white

(God forgive you for it),

Still expect me to be spotless

(God forgive you for it),

Still expect me to be pale.

 

So flee into the woods,

Run into the mountains;

Clean your mouth;

Live in a cottage;

Touch the damp earth

With your hands;

Nourish your body with

The bitter root;

Drink, like Moses,

From the rocks;

Sleep upon the frost;

Rejuvenate your flesh

With saltpetre and water;

Speak with the birds,

Rise with the sun.

And when your body

Has returned to you,

When it's become entangled

In the bedroom of your soul,

Only then, good man,

Can you expect me to be pale,

Expect me to be snow,

Expect me to be untouched.

 

(Translated from the Spanish by Sarah Fletcher)

We Wait by Adam Zagajewski

We Wait

One afternoon

Alfred Cortot plays Chopin

but only on a record

So what

There is eternity

There is delicacy

and dark powers

that drowse

We all wait

what comes next

There is eternity

but it ends soon

Sounds are lightning strokes

they can’t be stopped

We can be stopped

just like that

stop

(Translated by Clare Cavanagh)

My Aunts by Adam Zagajewski

My Aunts

 

Always caught up in what they called 

the practical side of life 

(theory was for Plato), 

up to their elbows in furniture, in bedding, 

in cupboards and kitchen gardens,

they never neglected the lavender sachets 

that turned a linen closet to a meadow. 

 

The practical side of life, 

like the Moon’s unlighted face, 

didn’t lack for mysteries; 

when Christmastime drew near, 

life became pure praxis 

and resided temporarily in hallways, 

took refuge in suitcases and satchels. 

 

And when somebody died--it happened 

even in our family, alas—

my aunts, preoccupied

with death’s practical side, 

forgot at last about the lavender,

whose frantic scent bloomed selflessly 

beneath a heavy snow of sheets.

Don’t just do something, sit there.

And so I have, so I have,

                    the seasons curling around me like smoke,

Gone to the end of the earth and back without sound.

(Translated by Clare Cavanagh)

Without by Joy Harjo

Without

The world will keep trudging through time without us

When we lift from the story contest to fly home

We will be as falling stars to those watching from the edge

Of grief and heartbreak

Maybe then we will see the design of the two-minded creature

And know why half the world fights righteously for greedy masters

And the other half is nailing it all back together

Through the smoke of cooking fires, lovers’ trysts, and endless

Human industry—

Maybe then, beloved rascal

We will find each other again in the timeless weave of breathing

We will sit under the trees in the shadow of earth sorrows

Watch hyenas drink rain, and laugh.

The Wind, One Brilliant Day by Antonio Machado

The Wind, One Brilliant Day

 

The wind, one brilliant day, called

to my soul with an odor of jasmine.

 

“In return for the odor of my jasmine,

I’d like all the odor of your roses.”

 

“I have no roses; all the flowers

in my garden are dead.”

 

“Well then, I’ll take the withered petals

and the yellow leaves and the waters of the fountain.”

 

the wind left. And I wept. And I said to myself:

“What have you done with the garden that was entrusted to you?”

 

(Translated by Robert Bly)

Things My Grandmother Said by Amit Majmudar

Things My Grandmother Said

 

Turmeric can heal anything

but a broken heart.

I’ve got some Benadryl I bet could shush

that dog of yours. Sounds fun

but what does it pay. You can’t shoot

the spots without shooting the leopard.

If dressmaker’s dummies could cook,

we’d all be old maids.

Poetry? You’re grinding water

with a pestle of ice,

but when you’ve never thirsted a day

in your life, I guess

you can play. I know plenty

of family history, but don’t ask me

where green eyes got into the bloodline.

India invented recycling, we called it karma,

but trash now is trash later.

I wasn’t crying, I was dicing onions

in a memory in Ahmedabad.

Every time I stand up

there’s Rice Krispies in my knees.

This girl is perfect for you, I know

her aunt. Read that to me at

my funeral, boy, right now my show is on.

I got to be this old by nibbling a little

raw ginger every morning.

Ambition’s a sinkhole that deepens

the more you dump in it,

but that doesn’t mean don’t get a job.

In the old days, families were so big,

counting nephews felt like counting stars.

Every kite forgets its string.

Sure, the Ganga is holy

but who told you to drink from it?

In the Afterlife by Mark Strand

In the Afterlife

She stood beside me for years, or was it a moment? I cannot remember. Maybe I loved her, maybe I didn’t. There was a house, and then no house. There were trees, but none remain. When no one remembers, what is there? You, whose moments are gone, who drift like smoke in the afterlife, tell me something, tell me anything.

Loving After Loss by Cass Donish

Loving After Loss

 

for RP

 

when two people kissing             

reinitiate each other’s foundation

—Malva Flores (trans. Jen Hofer)

 

 

 

all night long, the curtain was pulled back

and dawn drew me toward it, through the dark hours

in which, missing you, and feeling the strangeness

of missing you along with her, I swarmed above the pages

of a book searching for a lost syntax that could lead me

to this new form of desire, desire after obliteration,

I shouldn’t overstate this, the death of myself

when she died, I shouldn’t overstate it:

obliteration

 

                              the first time I saw you

I was already held in your arms,

we held each other standing in the grass in a storm,

it was the night my basement flooded and my house

vanished do you remember how the first time

we met we were already making love

in the rain we were already walking between

two houses at dawn we were already right here

in the early summer storm and then

you were in another city and I was already

missing you the day we met and realizing

I was in love with you the day we met you were

out of town and I met you in the dream I had

of walking by your house and looking up

just as you were opening the window

 

                      [when a lover’s mouth

                      reinvents a lost equation]

 

the first time I saw you, you were standing in the street

in front of my house and you waved hello

and said something from under your mask

the pandemic was ending soon on our block

we only had to be careful for a few more years

we didn’t touch for several more years

talking all night on the porch as we grew older

looking at our watches, turning pages on calendars

the first time I saw you, you were seconds

from being inside me for the first time

the first time I saw you I was pulling you

toward me, one foot on the earth,

one in the water, one star above us the first time

I saw you I was in a field without you

with the smell of thyme, animals wading in the river,

the heat of dusk on my skin, the air soaked with dusk-light

layered with dawn-light where we met for the first time

laughing nervously because we hadn’t slept

and we heard the birds beginning to fill with sound

 

           [how a lover’s voice

           reignites a new sensation]

 

                                             you were remarkable

                                            we were going to make love

for the first time and we knew it, I kept seeing

you at each moment for the first time and never

wanted this to end, resisted the urge

to know the end, I want to learn a different way to

            love I always want you         I always want to

see you for the first time and meet you

for the first time every time I wake up beside you

each morning resisting an anxiety I carry

under the surface of my skin because I am falling

in love for the first time and seeing you for the first

time each time I see you and I know the cost of love

            and yet poured forth this wish and yet couldn’t

have imagined you which is why I float in the half-night

sleepwalking with my eyes open

a sight that frightens even the animals

wading in the river and the butterflies

landing on my face who try to close my eyes for me

I tell them I’m on fire, that I carry love now

under my skin, that the love in me obliterated

me when she died and now it’s rebirthing

me into myself, this my own return

to my own transmuted bedrock the way

the way we touch becomes its own occasion