Moje zamisli, vrnite
se k meni! Danes sem prepešačila
za šest dolarjev in želim si,
da bi se vrnile. To ni le
sanjski žargon. Zunaj je mesto in ti
si meščanka. Kaj
sporočaš? Želim si, da bi živali
od daleč prišle k meni
preko prestrašene trave; kot bi, če bi
tu bilo čudežno jabolko in bi gorovje
izvotlila senca. Kaj si želiš? Skodelico
dreka na podzemni? (Videla sem jo.) Bleščečo
luč za dvigalom? Podrobnosti
za izdelavo lastne filozofije? Ne bodo pripomogle.
Izkričala ti bom svoje sanje,
ko se na pamet naučim sestavo še ene ptičje kosti
ptica, hči mojega telesa, delci njene kraljeve glave se dvigajo,
v zatilju;
Pozno poleti se razstavni drogovi
odenejo v grozljivo svetlobo
bitij, skozi katera smo se prebili, da smo postali, kar smo:
plazilcev, krokarja
različnih
obrazov
s totema
Jate udov prihajajo v temo & dalje, odtrgana krila drugo za drugim
To je le stranska veja večjega področja, morda
puščavskega lova z divjimi psi
Slutim, da se bo naše mesto
kmalu sesulo v pepel
Naše otoško mesto,
ki vesla preko reke v temo
Na njem so začrtali
geometrijske like, odstranili
so mah in skale, nadomestili so jih
z betonskimi ploščami. Ko razmisljaš v temi, misli
na naše mesto
kot na prišit dinamo, vključen & žareč opolnoči, veliko območje
z elektriko nabitih tirov in kraterjev & in nanj postavimo
v svetlobi & temi, če si zapolniš možgane
z Bostonom ali New Yorkom
z govorjenjem o Ameriki bomo dosegli
Talesa preko vode
Bangor preko morja
Anaksimandra preko zraka
velika železna vrata
Zgrabi Pariz za reko
Anaksagoro za misel
Zaratustro za ogenj, Jezusa
in bedake za ljubezen,
Zgrabi ogenj za svetilko, zgrabi priložnost in poleti, med alegorijama obeh
je ozek ekvatorialni pas, kjer je vse oglato in resnično
iz angleščine prevedel Igor Divjak
All my good ideas, come
back to me! I’ve done $6.00 worth
of walking today and I want you
to come home. This is not
just dream-jargon. The city is out there, and you
are a citizen “What
do you report? I want the animals
to come to me from far and wide
over the frightened grass, just as they would if
this were a wishing-apple and the mountains
were hollowed by shadow. What do you want? A cup of
shit on the subway? (I saw it) Light
flashing out from behind
the elevator. Details
to make a philosophy? These won’t.
But I will shout this dream out to you
as soon as I have learned another bird-bone by heart
bird, daughter of my own body, the fragments of its royal head floating up,
occipital;
Late summer wears an eerie light
on utility poles & shows
the creatures we moved through to get here:
reptile, raven
varied faces emerging
from the
totem
Flocks of limbs come dark & forward, wings drawn down one by one
This is a subregister of a larger field, perhaps
of a desert hunt with wild dogs
I suspect our city
will soon be laid to ashes
Our island city
Rowing out over the river in the dark
They have divided
geometry onto it, stripped
off the mosses, stripped off the rocks, and replaced them
with concrete blocks. When you are thinking in the dark, think
of our city
as stitched dynamos switched on & shining at midnight, a vast land
of electrically charged siding and craters, & over it we lay
in the bright & in the dark if you fill your brain
with Boston or New York
in this our talking America we will reach
Thales by water
Bangor by sea
Anaximander by air
a large iron gate
Take Paris by river
Anaxagoras by thought
Take Zoraster by fire, Jesus
and the mutts by love,
Take fire by flashlight, take flight, between the allegory of each
is a narrow equatorial belt where everything is angular and real