Is it in our genome
That something always goes wrong?
We were building the Third Rome –
We built a Second Pyongyang.
We moved forward and never strayed,
We were proudly standing guard.
We were marching to a parade
But ended up at a graveyard.
We’re scratching our heads – oh well,
That’s the fate into which we were born…
And what about Gabriel?
He’s gonna blow his horn.
The Original
Что-то не то творим –
В схеме, видать, изъян.
Строили Третий Рим –
Вышел второй Пхеньян.
Дружно смыкали ряд.
Высились в полный рост.
Двигались на парад –
Прибыли на погост.
Морщим теперь чело.
Думаем: не судьба…
А Гавриил чего?
Дело его – труба.
Born on May 25, 1961, in Omsk. Studied acting, worked in theaters in Khabarovsk and Chelyabinsk. In 2005, Sergey moved to Moscow. He is well known as a scriptwriter and playwright. His plays are produced in Moscow’s leading theaters. He has been writing poetry since the age of 15.
Dmitri Manin is a physicist, programmer, and translator of poetry. His translations from English and French into Russian have appeared in several book collections. His latest work is a complete translation of Ted Hughes’ “Crow” (Jaromír Hladík Press, 2020) and Allen Ginsberg’s “The Howl, Kaddish and Other Poems” (Podpisnie Izdaniya, 2021). Dmitri’s Russian-to-English translations have been published in journals (Cardinal Points, Delos, The Café Review, Metamorphoses, etc) and in Maria Stepanova’s “The Voice Over” (CUP, 2021). In 2017, his translation of Stepanova’s poem won the Compass Award competition. “Columns,” his new book of translations of Nikolai Zabolotsky’s poems, was published by Arc Publications in 2023 (https://eastwestliteraryforum.com/books/nikolai-zabolotsky-columns-poems).
“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.
