Michael Scherb. Translated by Sergey Gerasimov

Also in Translations:

1. Mark Steiner
Abstraction by Mark Steiner
Michael Scherb. Translated by Sergey Gerasimov

 
THERE USED TO BE
 

There used to be: classrooms
full of sickly boredom,
begonias on the sill,
eyes elongated like vowels,
and in the fall,
the smell of Antonovka apples.

The epoch of decay, of destruction,
straitjackets of restrictions,
bodily ventures of sex,
sinful relationships,
still redundant,
as if designed to grow into them,
as if someone inside me
was growing, replacing me,
striving to break out,
like a moth vibrating its wings
in my mouth void of speech,
but full of muteness and unreality
and the biting winds of January.

Since then, no matter what,
that one has always lived in my dark blood.
He’s like a compass needle
that trembles among people –
from the south pole of anguish
to the far north of love,
the crown of his head deep in my throat.

He’s the one who gives me ease,
who supports me by the elbow,
who wakes me up like morning coffee,
who warms me better than a cardigan,
and if there’s the tiniest gap
between either souls or bodies,
he fills it straight away.
 

* * *
 
The Original
 
ВСЁ БЫЛО

Всё было: и комнаты классные,
И скука, и недомогание
бегонии на подоконнике,
И глаз удлинённых, как гласные,
От резкого света моргание,
И осень, и запах антоновки.

Эпоха распада и тления,
Запретов объятия тесные,
И пола затеи телесные,
Греховные переплетения,
Излишние, словно на вырост,
Как будто бы кто-то внутри
Другой мне на смену вырос,
И выйти стремился наружу,
Как бабочка, бился во рту,
Навек опустевшем для речи, –
Откроешь – январскую стужу
Он впустит в жильё человечье
И призрачность, и немоту.

С тех пор он, кори – не кори,
Живёт в моей тёмной крови
И требует вдоха иного.
Он стрелкой дрожит меж людьми,
От южного полюса боли,
До северного – любви,
И тычется теменем в горло,

Но он же – дарует мне лёгкость,
И он же – поддержит под локоть,
Поднимет, как утренний кофе,
Согреет не хуже, чем кофта,
И слово надежды запомнит,

А если меж душ или тел
Заметит малейший пробел,
То тут же его и заполнит.

About the Author:

1. 271485936_1144343626362788_3229225275568042901_n
Michael Scherb
Dortmund, Germany

Michael Scherb (1972, Odesa, Ukraine), theoretical physicist, computer scientist. Since 1994, he has been living in Germany. Michael is the author of two poetry collections.

About the Translator:

1. Сергей Герасимов
Sergey Gerasimov
Kharkiv, Ukraine

Sergey Gerasimov is a Ukraine-based writer, poet, and translator of poetry. Among other things, he has studied psychology. He is the author of several academic articles on cognitive psychology. When he is not writing, he leads a simple life of teaching, playing tennis, and kayaking down beautiful Ukrainian rivers. The largest book publishing companies in Russia, such as AST, Eksmo, and others have published his books. His stories and poems written in English have appeared in Adbusters, Clarkesworld Magazine, Strange Horizons, J Journal, The Bitter Oleander, and Acumen, among many others. His last book is Oasis published by Gypsy Shadow. The poetry he translated has been nominated for several Pushcart Prizes. His novel about survival in Kharkiv under heavy bombardment, originally written in English, has been published in a Swiss magazine, in German.

Michael Scherb Михаил Щерб
Bookshelf
by Alexis Levitin

In this collection of 34 short stories, author Alexis Levitin, travel set in hand, takes the reader on a journey across several continents – and even into space – exploring the joys of chess and its effect on the lives of those who play.

by Art Beck

A collection of essays and reviews by Art Beck. “These pieces are selected from a steady series of essays and reviews I found myself publishing in the late aughts of the still early century.”

by Nikolai Zabolotsky

A collection of early poems by Zabolotsky, translated into English by Dmitri Manin. “Dmitri Manin’s translations retain the freshness of Zabolotsky’s vision.” – Boris Dralyuk

by Aleksandr Kabanov

A book of wartime poems by Alexandr Kabanov, one of Ukraine’s major poets, fighting for the independence of his country by means at his disposal – words and rhymes.

by Mark Budman

Every character in these twenty-two interlinked stories is an immigrant from a place real or imaginary. (Magic realism/immigrant fiction.)

by Andrey Kneller

In this collection, Andrey Kneller has woven together his own poems with his translations of one of the most recognized and celebrated contemporary Russian poets, Vera Pavlova.

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