About the Author:
Rafael Alberti
Spain
Rafael Alberti (16 December 1902 – 28 October 1999) was a Spanish poet. He is considered one of the greatest literary figures of the so-called Silver Age of Spanish poetry.
Defend yourself! They’re woodcutters,
those whistling axes
moving my tongue.
Watch out!
Sickles of evil winds
biting my soul.
You,
tower of distrust.
You, tower of gold, greed.
Wall up your windows.
Better yet, look.
Men devastated, still,
in the fallen cities.
Ask them.
Better yet, listen.
A sky, green with envy,
overflows from my mouth and sings.
I, a sky…
Neither look nor listen. I…
Wall up your windows.*
*
ЗАВИСТЛИВЫЙ АНГЕЛ
Защищайся! — это дровосеки
свистящими топорами
двигают моим языком.
Берегись!
Это серпы злых ветров
кромсают мою душу.
Ты,
крепость недоверия,
Ты, крепость из золота и жадности.
Зашторь окна.
Или нет, смотри.
Опустошенные, неподвижные люди
в разрушенных городах.
У них спроси.
Или нет, слушай.
Небо, зеленое от зависти,
льётся из моего рта и поет.
Я, небо …
Нет, не слушай и не смотри. Я…
Зашторь окна.
Russian translation by Nina Kossman
*
The original
EL ÁNGEL ENVIDIOSO
Leñadoras son, ¡defiéndete!,
esas silbadoras hachas
que mueven mi lengua.
Hoces de los vientos malos,
¡alerta!,
que muerden mi alma.
Torre de desconfianza,
tú.
Tú, torre del oro, avara.
Ciega las ventanas.
O no, mira.
Hombres arrasados, fijos
por las ciudades taladas.
Pregúntales.
O no, escucha.
Un cielo, verde de envidia,
rebosa mi boca y canta.
Yo, un cielo…
Ni escuches ni mires. Yo…
Ciega las ventanas.
*English translation by Jose A. Elgorriaga & Martin Paul from “100 Poems by Rafael Alberti” (San Francisco: Kosmos, 1981)
Rafael Alberti (16 December 1902 – 28 October 1999) was a Spanish poet. He is considered one of the greatest literary figures of the so-called Silver Age of Spanish poetry.
The new poetry collection from Wayne Pernu, one of the finest poets writing in English today. This is one of those rare collections that calls to mind the great masters—Donne, Keats, Yeats.
Comedy and tragedy collide in stories of family life in Soviet Russia and the complexities of the immigrant experience
Boris Khersonsky and Ludmila Khersonsky write poetry that speaks to the crisis of our time, when refugees run from bombardments, and nonstop propaganda flows from TV. The setting is Ukraine at the start of the twenty-first century, but it is eerily recognizable anywhere.
A new book of poems by New York poet and essayist Sergei Shabalin. In Russian.