If There Is Something to Desire: One Hundred Poems - Rilegato

Pavlova, Vera

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0307272257 ISBN 13: 9780307272256

Casa editrice: Alfred a Knopf Inc, 2010

Riassunto

A volume of works by the award-winning Russian poet explores a theme of love as experienced as a family member, romantic partner and within the boundaries of physical intimacy, in a translation that is comprised of brief pieces that use immediacy-connoting language.

Su questo libro

L'autore:

Vera Pavlova was born in Moscow. She is the author of fourteen collections of poetry, four opera librettos, and numerous essays on musicology. Her work has been translated into eighteen languages. She is the recipient of several awards and is one of the best-selling poets in Russia.Steven Seymour is a professional interpreter and translator of Russian, Polish, and French. His English translations of Vera Pavlova’s poems have appeared in Tin House and The New Yorker.

Estratto. © Riproduzione autorizzata. Diritti riservati.:

7

If there is something to desire,
there will be something to regret.
If there is something to regret,
there will be something to recall.
If there is something to recall,
there was nothing to regret.
If there was nothing to regret,
there was nothing to desire.
9

I broke your heart.
Now barefoot I tread
on shards.

11

Let us touch each other
while we still have hands,
palms, forearms, elbows . . .
Let us love each other for misery,
let us torture each other,
mangle, maim,
to remember better,
to part with less pain.

16

Whose face and body would I like to have?
The face and body of Nike.
I would fly past all those Venuses,
would have nothing to do with Apollos.
With the wind chilling my shoulder
I would leave behind forever
the hall of plaster copies!

71

Self-Portrait in Profile

I
am
the one
who wakes up
on your
left.

76

Am I lovely? Of course!
Breathlessly I taste
the subtle compliment
of a handmade caress.
Chop me into tiny bits,
caress and tame my soul,
that godly swallow
you love to no end.

78

Basked in the sun,
listened to birds,
licked off raindrops,
and only in flight
the leaf saw the tree
and grasped
what it had been.

91

dropped
and falling
from such
heights
for so
long
that
maybe
I will have
enough time
to learn
flying

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Alfred a Knopf Inc
• Data di pubblicazione: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0307272257
• ISBN 13: 9780307272256
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 106