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

/ / ISSUE 25, Translation

INCALCULABILITY 

Things and people often disappear at night, so in the morning you account for yourself with the help of your hand. See if you have incurred losses of yourself. There are ten toes on your feet, five in each flock. None should be missing from the herd. Your eyes are in your head, tucked in alone on each side of your face. Two knees, elbows and two clavicles. The twinless tongue lies in its burrow. One mouth, though cracked in half. Close it when you’re done counting. “I still have me” – affirm and write the result on a paper slip. Or admit: “I have lost my mind.”

 

 

CALCULATION

One is a human, alone under their skin. Ask the foreman what one means – he will point to himself. He also knows what two is: a sparrow’s wings, a pair of shoes, eyes. Human hands: a measure of duality hanging by the sides. Anything they both take at one time means two. Two has its own weight, can be grasped. Immediately after two begins a lot. Far too many: fingers, hair, years. It is difficult for the foreman to tell how much he has. So he does not count and remains incalculable.

 

 

ILLUSION

Apprentice: How is the illusion created?
Foreman: You employ word machines and kaleidoscopes. 
Apprentice: Is the item big?
Foreman: Not very, but stretchy.
Apprentice: What is it?
Foreman: Imaginary in the back of life. A box theater.
Apprentice: And the repertoire?
Foreman: Light. You can’t hear existential refrains. 
Apprentice: What else is not there?
Foreman: Death preliminaries. Just mirabilia, skullduggery of welfare.
Apprentice: Isn’t that a burden?
Foreman: Yes, because there’s no growth.
Apprentice: Why?
Foreman: It’s not real.
Apprentice: Who visits this place?
Foreman: The ones mistakenly in love.

 

TRANSLATOR BIO:

Katarzyna Szuster-Tardi is a translator. She earned her M.A. in English studies from the University of Lodz, Poland. She has translated various Polish poets into English, such as Miron Białoszewski, Justyna Bargielska, Bronka Nowicka, and Hanna Janczak. Recently, she co-translated Kim Yideum’s Hysteria into Polish. She also rendered Don Mee Choi’s poems into Polish in the collection Odmiany Łapania Tchu[Variants of Catching Breath]. Her newest translations of poems and essays have been published in Conjunctions, Circumference, Hunger Mountain Review, Sextant Review, Denver Quarterly, Michigan Quarterly Review, Tripwire, LIT, Berlin Quarterly, and Seedings. Photo Credit: Marta Zgrajka

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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