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.

Retorcedme sobre el mar,
al sol, como si mi cuerpo
fuera el jirón de una vela.
Exprimid toda mi sangre.
Tended a secar mi vida
sobre las jarcias del muelle.
Seco, arrojadme a las aguas
con una piedra en el cuello
para que nunca más flote.
Le di mi sangre a los mares.
¡Barcos, navegad por ella!
Debajo estoy yo, tranquilo.
Rafael Alberti. Marinero en tierra, 25
* * *
Выкрути меня над морем,
на солнце, будто мое тело —
лоскут паруса.
Выжми из меня всю кровь.
Повесь мою жизнь сушиться
на такелаже пирса.
А высохну, брось меня в воду
с камнем на шее,
чтобы я не всплывал.
Свою кровь я отдал морям.
Плывите по ней, корабли!
Я спокоен, лежу на дне.
Перевод на русский Нины Косман
* * *
Wring me out over the sea,
in the sun, as though my body
were the shred of a sail.
Squeeze out all my blood.
Spread my life to dry
over the rigging of the pier.
Once dry, throw me into the water
with a stone around my neck
so that I’ll never float again.
I gave my blood to the seas.
Sail through it, ships!
I’m down below, resting.
English translation by Jose A. Elgorriaga & Martin Paul; 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.
When Clea returns to London with her new Russian husband, she is surprised to see him become even more eccentric.
A haunting dystopia some readers have called “the new 1984.” In a society where memory is rewritten and resistance is pre-approved, freedom isn’t restricted; it’s redefined. As systems evolve beyond human control and choice becomes a simulation, true defiance means refusing the script, even when the system already knows you will.
“13 short pieces…pungently convey the effects of growing up under a totalitarian regime.” .—Publishers Weekly
Original poetry by Nina Kossman, accompanied by a selection of poems by Marina Tsvetaeva, translated from Russian by Kossman. “The sea is a postcard,” writes Nina Kossman. There is both something elemental in this vision and—iron-tough.”
—Ilya Kaminsky