Sample Poems

Issue 6

Sample Poem

Names with asterisks link to bios.

"Snow falls on the young sailor's shoulders."

from For the Fighting Spirit of the Walnut

Človek. Ki sem ga spoštoval
Ko sem se vrnil iz Mehike, sem bil kot
smrt. Usta so se mi zrušila in
preperela. Kazen sem plačeval za
grehe, nebo se mi je raztopilo.
Z jezikom sem se lahko dotikal
možgan direktno. Bilo je boleče, strašno in
sladko. Ko je zunaj, v čakalnici sedel
Svetozar, sem zrušil omaro z instrumenti.
Ne, nisem natančen, pred mano je
šel iz ordinacije, samo slutil sem, kdo je,
nisem ga niti poznal. Ko sem se usedel
na stol, je moja energija zrušila omaro
z instrumenti. Prestopati iz sveta v
svet pomeni potres. Včeraj je umrl.

written 1997
*Tomaž Šalamun

Tomaž Šalamun was born in 1941 in Zagreb, Croatia and raised in Koper, Slovenia. He has a degree in Art History from the University of Ljubljana. He has published more than 30 books of poetry in Slovenia and is recognized as one of the leading poets in Central Europe. His honors include a Pushcart Prize, a visiting Fulbright to Columbia University, and a fellowship to the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa. He also has served as Cultural Attaché to the Slovenian Consulate in New York. He has had nine collections of poetry published in English, including The Selected Poems of Tomaž Šalamun (Ecco Press, 1988), edited by Charles Simic; Feast (Harcourt Brace, 2000); and Poker (Ugly Duckling, 2003). Woods and Chalices, translated with Brian Henry, is forthcoming in 2008.

The Man I Respected

When I returned from Mexico, I looked like
death. My mouth collapsed
and disintegrated. I was paying a penalty
for my sins, my palate had dissolved.
I could touch my brain with my tongue.
It was painful, horrible and sweet.
While Svetozar sat outside in the waiting room,
I tore down the instrument case.
No, I am not being precise: he left the office
before me, I only suspected who he was, I didn’t even
know him. When I sat in the chair,
my energy tore down the instrument case.
To pass from world to world
means an earthquake. Yesterday he died.

translated from Slovenian by
*Brian Henry

Brian Henry Brian Henry is the author of five books of poetry, most recently The Stripping Point (Counterpath, 2007) and Quarantine (Ahsahta, 2006). His translation of the Slovenian poet Tomaž Šalamun’s book Woods and Chalices will appear from Harcourt in 2008.