Somnambula walks out on the planet
And there, from the planet looks aloft,
And now her looks are half-undressed,
As if her distinguishing features
Merged to one under the soft shining light.
See the drawn-out looks of the moon,
Its eyes are mires of fibreglass swamps,
Through them Somnambula swims, flows,
And swirls herself together. Dark facades,
Untouched-by-gold facades
Abruptly recede. Reality proceeds.
The planet’s dead souls loom rife,
Around its distinguishing rifts,
Between them, arms reach up to a cleft,
Somnambula is taken and lifted aloft,
And now she’s earthly and weighty,
Raised to where there is no shade.
No shadow there but other gardens,
Their fruits are dense as beaten chops,
That drip and sizzle, reek deep decay.
Somnambula drifts in overrun gardens,
Moves and hums, as if the green noise
Of green gardens had long ago died.
2021
Сомнамбула выходит на планету
И там, с планеты, смотрит в вышину,
И вот её черты полураздеты,
Как будто бы особые приметы
Под мягким светом все слились в одну.
А вот черты луны продолговаты,
Её глаза – болота стекловаты,
Сомнамбула течёт в них, точно вплавь
Себя сгребает. Тёмные фасады,
Не тронутые золотом фасады
Вдруг отступают. Проступает явь.
Повсюду наступает навь планеты,
У ней свои особые просветы,
И в них проходят руки на просвет,
Сомнамбулу берут и поднимают,
И вот она, весомая, земная,
Возносится туда, где тени нет.
Там тени нет, но там сады иные,
В них тесные плоды, как отбивные,
Шкворчат и капают во весь тлетворный дух.
Сомнамбула бредёт в садовых чащах,
Идёт-гудёт, как будто в настоящих
Зелёный шум давно уже потух.
2021
* * *
Two children were born to Eternity
And when my sister died,
I alone survived,
Outfoxed smoke, like sand for glass
In the uncared garden of October.
Two children were beside Eternity
At her side in fear and wonder;
And a smoking splinter of my body
Fashioned her flesh to clothe me.
Two children were born to Eternity,
Every day she plaited tresses,
Burnt the dinner down to ashes,
And carried always a weighty bag.
Then after school one day we came upon a river,
And the air was scurried across the banks,
Our heavy boat drifted far and distant,
And yet no one summoned us there.
Two children drifted from Eternity,
The sister dipped a hand in the water,
At night anemone encircled inside
Up to her elbows from age-old thighs.
Sandcastles fade at the waters edge
And nearby a trowel lies.
We shall never ever part again. Footprints
Disappear in the wake of absent legs.
Two children grew cold outside Eternity.
Who will light a fire for them?
They huddled tight together, and naked dark
Draped itself around them.
2020
Было у Вечности двое детей,
А когда сестра умерла,
Я остался один,
Как стекольный песчаник, обманутый дым
В обделённом саду октября.
Были у Вечности двое детей
И стояли у края её;
И дымящий осколок из плоти моей
Одевал меня плотью её.
Было у Вечности двое детей,
Каждый день она косы плела
И сжигала обед, и встречала дотла,
И носила тяжёлый портфель.
А однажды мы вышли из школы к реке,
И по берегу воздух сновал,
И тяжёлая лодка плыла вдалеке,
Но никто нас туда не позвал.
Плыли от Вечности двое детей,
Руку в воду склонила сестра,
И ночной анемон обнимал до локтей
Её старые бёдра нутра.
Вянет замок песочный у края воды
И валяется рядом совок.
Не расстанемся больше навеки.
Следы
Исчезают в отсутствие ног.
Стыли без Вечности двое детей.
Кто разведёт им огонь?
Плотно прижались, и голая тень
Их одевала собой.
2020
Evgenia Ritz was born in Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod). Poet, literary critic, author of three collections of poems, candidate of philosophy (Phd).
Mark Wingrave was born in the UK and now lives in Melbourne, Australia. He is an artist and translator, who makes text-based paintings and artist’s books. Mark has exhibited internationally and his translations from Russian to English have appeared in Circumference, Articulation, Russian Free Verse, and Soanyway (collaboration with Gala Uzryutova). He received an MA from Chelsea School of Art, and a Scholarship in Painting at the British School at Rome. Future projects include residencies at Petrozavodsk (Karelian Art Residence) and Ulyanovsk (UNESCO Literary Residency).
“Monkey’s Excuse” is a collection of short stories and parables by Nina Kossman, bilingual author of eight books of poetry and prose, compiler of the anthology “Gods and Mortals” (Oxford University Press), artist, and translator of Tsvetaeva’s poems into English.
This collection includes poems written in 2020-2023. (Russian edition)
“The Lingering Twilight” (“Сумерки”) is Marina Eskin’s fifth book of poems. (Russian edition)
Launched in 2012, “Four Centuries” is an international electronic magazine of Russian poetry in translation.
A collection of moving, often funny vignettes about a childhood spent in the Soviet Union.
“Vivid picture of life behind the Iron Curtain.” —Booklist
“This unique book will serve to promote discussions of freedom.” —School Library Journal
A book of poems by Maria Galina, put together and completed exactly one day before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This is Galina’s seventh book of poems. With translations by Anna Halberstadt and Ainsley Morse.