Monday, December 30, 2019

A NATIVITY POEM BY JOSEPH BRODSKY ("NO MATTER . . . ")



NATIVITY (“NO MATTER . . . “ )
by Joseph Brodsky
Translated by Larissa Shmailo
No matter what surrounded them and
what the blizzard wailed at the sand,
that their shepherd’s den was close, nor
that they had no place else anywhere:
First, they were together. Second (mainly),
they were a threesome now, and, plainly,
all created, anticipated, or gifted for them
was now shared by three, at a minimum.
Above, in the icy sky over their camp,
with the habit of big towering over slight,
glittered a star, which, from then on, had
nowhere to hide from the baby’s sight.
The bonfire blazed till the log’s last ember,
and everyone slept. The star, unlike others,
greater than its glow, at its absolute nadir
could know an alien as a beloved neighbor.

Не важно, что было вокруг, и не важно,
о чем там пурга завывала протяжно,
что тесно им было в пастушьей квартире,
что места другого им не было в мире.
Во-первых, они были вместе. Второе,
и главное, было, что их было трое,
и всё, что творилось, варилось, дарилось
отныне, как минимум, на три делилось.
Морозное небо над ихним привалом
с привычкой большого склоняться над малым
сверкало звездою -- и некуда деться
ей было отныне от взгляда младенца.
Костер полыхал, но полено кончалось;
все спали. Звезда от других отличалась
сильней, чем свеченьем, казавшимся лишним,
способностью дальнего смешивать с ближним.

Friday, December 13, 2019

AWP International Experimental Poetry Panel on ALTA Blog

Thanks to ALTA, the American Literary Translators Association, for listing our AWP event, Translating the the Untranslatable: A Reading of International Experimental Poetry with Marc VincenzHelene CardonaJennifer Kwon Dobbs, Michele Gil-Montero and moderated by me, on their blog.

Translation Events at AWP20

Planning to come to San Antonio from March 4 – 7, 2020 for the Association for Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) conference to enjoy North America’s largest literary conference? Then be sure to check out this list of translation-related events! Take a peek and get planning today. 
Thursday, March 5, 2020

9:00 am to 10:15 am
Room 211, Henry B. González Convention Center, Meeting Room Level. Translating the Untranslatable: A Reading of International Experimental Poetry. (Larissa Shmailo, Marc Vincenz, Hélène Cardona, Michelle Gil-Montero, Jennifer Kwon Dobbs) From the manifestos of Breton to the wordplay of Stein to the fantastical lines of Borges, avant garde movements have always driven poetry into revolutionary directions. This panel offers a panoramic view of international experimental poetries by noted world translators from French, German, Korean, Russian, and Spanish (Latin American) poets of the 20th and 21st centuries. Intercultural and intersectional issues in translation will be discussed as panelists read from a range of avant poetries.

Saturday, December 07, 2019

2019 Lit Roundup, with Gratitude



What a whirlwind year 2019 has been ! I have been honored to read with amazing poets and wrtiers this year at AWP and on tour for my new novel, SLY BANG. We blew up sex writing in Portland with Thaddeus Rutkowski, Jonathan Penton, Cecilia Tan, and the iconic Erica Jong; we auteured poetry editorship with Kwame Dawes, Marc Vincenz, Michael Anania, and Sam Truitt.
Wonderful Russians and Americans alike helped me celebrate SLY BANG this year - supporting my "psychosexual feminist ebullience " were readings by Annie Finch, Ron Kolm, Irina Mashinski, Anton Yakovlev, Regina Khidekel, Don Yorty, Anna Halberstadt, Andrey Gritsman, Thaddeus generously again, Dean Kostos, Michael T. Young, Stephanie Strickland, Alexander Veytsman, Elizabeth L. Hodges and the late great Steve Dalachinsky, who read on my birthday and picked (of course) the most experimental section to perform, brilliantly. Deep thanks to all the SLY BANG reviewers, incuding Jeff Hansen, Baron Drave, Kimberly Rae Lorenz-Copeland, and MCQ Michael W McHugh!
Many great pubs, including Annie Finch's upcoming blockbuster anthology, Choice Words: Writers on Abortion, Bernard Meisler's Sensitive Skin anthology, Anna Halberstadt's Russian edition of the Cafe Review, the St. Petersburg Review, KGB Lit, and many more. And unexpected and wonderful, thanks to Marie C Lecrivain for nominating me for Sundress Best of the Net in creative nonfiction!
Deep respect and love to my co-ediitor and legendary Russian translator, Philip Nikolayev, for his contributions to our new anthology, From Pushkin to Pussy Riot: Russian Political Poetry and Prose, as well as to our remarkable poets, essayists, and translators; blessings upon Virginia Konchan of www.MatterMonthly.com for hosting us wild Slavs.
Next year brings new forays into international experimental poetry, immigrant literature and the politics of resistance, more SLY BANG events, and vigorous political activism. Until then, happiest of holiday seasons and best literary wishes!


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