Darya Suhovey
Translated by Christopher Mattison
Spring Scales
1.
we'll smoke a couple cigarettes
each third a unit of time
toss out a computer
or trade in a hard disk
buy a new mouse and two books
what for what for
2.
with a new mouse and two books
in a semitransparent polyethylene
bag
with dreams like a refrain
take the trolleybus take the trolleybus
what for what for
3.
hello – insert someone's name here
I won't report anything new to you
absolutely nothing
except for that I have time for nothing
therefore I won't plan to meet you
in very near future
4.
our affairs however require supplemental
agreement and discussion
th-ere wh-ere we get together
I sincerely hope
a cup of tea (martini / mug of beer)
to choose the essentials
they'll be guaranteed
5.
you know the material complexities
I look through the window to the sky
the mini-bus is twelve roubles, metro six
I have to buy two books a month
a computer mouse polyethylene bag
shoe repairs analgesics contraception
6./ a continuation of the enumeration
quick noodles
cigarettes telephone bills rent
flowers
it's not yours to worry about
as usual our everyday things are fine
I'll tell you my news when we meet
7.
a signature sincerely / regretfully
what for what for
send by fax send by fax
pasting in new names and more new names
discovering new names for myself
which live like me
8.
instead of the mini-bus I'll buy a beer
I even have enough for klinskoye
and if there's no klinskoye
then a light bavarian, baltica
eight sixty eight sixty
spring waits won't go winds whistle
9.
first spring in the city centre
like an unpretentious colour scale
drink back a beer drink back a beer
too late to experiment with anything else
+
too early to go back
=
something else will work out
10.
I go somewhere to argue with someone
I might ever go far away
with this very goal
to the other end of city for example
or to another city
under the same sky
11.
strictly speaking there's nothing more I can say
I open the first door I come across
a bar or the scientific institute it doesn't matter
they let me in because of my honest eyes
hair washed in the morning
unfamiliar face
12.
I can't even explain why
this text is called spring scales
probably some old inertia
trajectory
previously established laws
of ecumenical equilibrium
13
it's already a sort of egor letov
twenty third of march in club polygon
squeeze an order a tickets an order a tickets
press here
the author indicates the heart
and leaves the scene.
(published in “Modern poetry in translations”, No 20. London, 2002. pp.224-226)
***
[перевод стихотворения «последнее время так мало времени/ верлибр»] by Christopher Mattison
there's been so little time recently
no verse libre's been written
because
verse libre's
considered
hollow
and empty waste of time
wicked
whether it appears single line
or a direct lyrical expression
verse libre's
never limited
by these bounds
what is to be done when the text
is the poorly organized
and at the same time
it's perhaps related
to a manner of reading
that must rely of something
in the voice
(unpublished)
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