Ours was not a time
of the Great Terror or the Bolshoi Theater.
we are impaled upon the ramrods of our theories
and naked to the tide
and to plunge in we're never leery
Ours was not the time
of the Big Bang or the Big Bounce
at the Somme at Woodstock we did not absorb the sounds
with baselards and fauchards
never were we trounced
Say thank you to the conductor
if there's something you don't comprehend
'till you say it you won't meet a timely end
say thank you to the conductor
To the water or to the coil relay
to that little girl from public relations
to the council of ancients who laid a lambasting
(may they rest easier in the clay)
-- Lev Oborin, trans. John William Narins
On Monday, October 15,at the midtown branch of the New York Public Library three young Russian poets read with three American counterparts at an event moderated by David Lehman. This is one of the poems read by Dina Gatina on that occasion. Gatina has won the prestigious Debut Prize for poetry in Russia. For more information, here's a link to Causa Artium, one of the sponsors of the event. For Madge McKeithen's write-up of the reading on October 15, click here.
