from RED MELANCHOLIA by Helena Boberg trans. Johannes Göransson (from SWEDISH)

/ / ISSUE 25, Translation

They have grabbed me     opened up

cut loose     reshaped my nature

spared a cypher from being extinguished

begun a protracted illness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The room tightened

brought my life sphere

one step closer to my body

underneath     was a blind area





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As if I voluntarily donated

my silent tissue to these violent 

cells    entrusted me as a mother ship

host animal    for endgames and destruction





 

 

 

 

 

 

The I function     non-sovereign in this drama

why talk about function     as if I

with language     could control      these whispering

crystal spores     mythological stalactites

without intent     or anthropomorphic characteristics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Melancholic pursuit of pleasure

eats up the time

I should spellbind     dusk

which always starts over





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If only     the magical organs

were here     capable of

placing me     in the orbit     that

refines all organic material

 

 

 

TRANSLATOR BIO:

Johannes Göransson is the author of nine books of poetry and criticism, most recently Summer (2022), and the translator of several books of poetry, including works by Aase Berg, Ann Jäderlund, Kim Yideum, and, most recently, Eva Kristina Olsson’s The Angelgreen Sacrament (Black Square Editions, 2021). His poems, translations and critical writings have appeared in a wide array of journals in the US and abroad, including Fence, Lana Turner, Spoon River Review, Modern Poetry in Translation (UK), Kritiker (Denmark) and Lyrikvännen (Sweden). He is a professor in the English Department at the University of Notre Dame and one of the editors of Action Books.

 

ISSUE 25
POEMS

EN ROUTE by Suphil Lee Park

TWO POEMS by Alexandra Teague

GHAZAL NO. 2 by M. Cynthia Cheung

[MY GRANDFATHER WALKED IN THE SNOW] by Cleo Qian

IN THE END, THE ALEFS CURL by Iqra Khan

THREE POEMS by Mónica Gomery

GEOMETRY by Karen Kevorkian

from PSALMS OF LAMENT FOR DIVINE IMPERATIVES by Jennifer Metsker

TWO POEMS by Jimin Seo

THE PLEASURE IS IN THE WORK by Stella Hayes

WHAT ELSE COULD I HAVE DONE by Mikael de Lara Co

FICTION

MY DINNER THEATRE WITH ANDRÉ by Christopher Hebert

KHOSHBAKHTAM by Kent Kosack

TRANSLATION

from RED MELANCHOLIA by Helena Boberg trans. Johannes Goransson (from Swedish)

AND WHAT HAPPENS IF I WANT TO NAME EVERYTHING?, ASKS THE FEMALE DISCIPLE by Mayra Santos-Febres trans. Seth Michelson (from Spanish) 

THREE POEMS by Bronka Nowicka trans. Katarzyna Szuster (from Polish)

[A POEM] by Beatriz Miralles de Imperial trans. Layla Benitez-James (from Spanish)

[UNTITLED 1] by Vladislav Hristov trans. Katarina Stoykova (from Bulgarian) 

FROM NORTH by Baek Sok trans. Jack Jung (from Korean)

WHEN OTHER PEOPLE ARE WRITING POEMS by Oh Kyu-won trans. Jack Jung (from Korean)

TWO POEMS by Ashraf Zhagal trans. Ghada Mourad

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