Also in Prose:

Julia Wiener photo self
Julia Wiener
Julia Wiener. I forgive

 
I forgive

my father for conceiving me

my mother for bearing me

my brother for looking alike

my sister for not being

my husband for dying

my children for not being born

but myself I do not forgive anything

(and I do not ask for forgiveness)
 
I forgive

the Germans for killing me

the Jews for thinking I’m one of them

the Russians for not thinking I’m one of them

the Japanese, the English and the Swedes

for not being Jewish

the earth for putting up with us all

But God I do not forgive anything

(most of all that he does not exist)
 
Translated from Russian by Nina Kossman
 
 
The Original:
 
Я прощаю

отцу за то что он меня зачал

матери за что она меня носила

брату за то что мы похожи

сестре за то что её нету

мужу за то что он умер

детям за то что они не родились

себе не прощаю ничего

(да и не прошу прощенья)
 
я прощаю

немцам за то что они меня убили

евреям за то что они меня считают своею

русским за то что они меня своей не считают

японцам англичанам и прочим шведам

за то что они не евреи

земле за то что она всех нас терпит

богу не прощаю ничего

(главным образом то что его нету)
 

About the Author:

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Julia Wiener
Jerusalem, Israel

Julia Wiener (July 22, 1935, Moscow – February 13, 2022, Jerusalem) was a bilingual writer, poet, scriptwriter, and translator. She said about herself: “I had lived the first half of my life as a Jew in the USSR and the second half of it as a Russian in Israel.” In the USSR, she earned her living by scriptwriting for Moscow TV; later, later by doing literary translations. She emigrated to Israel in 1971. She wrote and published both poetry and prose. She translated poetry and fiction from Hebrew, English, French, German, Polish, and Dutch. She was married to Johannes Hendrik Fernhout (1913—1987), a Dutch filmmaker, until his death in 1987.

Titles of her books (in Russian): «Снег в Гефсиманском саду», «На воздушном шаре — туда и обратно», «Собака и её хозяйка», «Смерть в доме творчества», «Былое и выдумки», «Красный адамант», «О деньгах, о старости, о смерти», «Место для жизни. Квартирные рассказы».

Julia Wiener Юлия Винер
Bookshelf
1. Dislocation
by Julia Nemirovskaya and Anna Krushelnitskaya, editors

This collection focuses on the war between Russia and Ukraine as seen by Russophone poets from all over the world.

1. cover for EWLF Sept. 11 2024. FINAL BOOK_cover Opravdanie martyshki (1)
by Nina Kossman

“Monkey’s Excuse” is a collection of short stories and parables by Nina Kossman.

KokotovL._SY425_
by Boris Kokotov

This collection includes poems written in 2020-2023.  (Russian edition)

Marina skina._SY466_
by Marina Eskin (Eskina)

“The Lingering Twilight” (“Сумерки”) is Marina Eskin’s fifth book of poems. (Russian edition)

Videos
Three Questions. A Documentary by Vita Shtivelman
Play Video
Poetry Reading in Honor of Brodsky’s 81st Birthday
Length: 1:35:40