Metranil Vavin
eshleman's metro vavin
meeting an american poet
Somebody called me and said he had a friend.
I said Who. He said someone I don't know.
I said alright, come visit me if you want so much to know me,
and this fellow walked in not speaking good French.
I said to him do you know how the locust sounds?
He said No and smiled at me, not trying to answer.
Then he told me he lived in Japan.
I have never been there, I never will.
I am old now and my pencil is almost eraser.
He said the Japanese children play with beetles in the trees,
he said they catch cicadas; I said those are not locusts,
what sings in a little box is not what flies at my nature,
I mean, my native Vladivostok. Then I told him about locusts,
and he looked at me like I am eaten.
What do you think, I said. He said I was kind to invite him.
Have another wine I told him, you are American,
I am a hollow plague of night.
Very poetical.
Very awful.
I can no longer see.
I said Who. He said someone I don't know.
I said alright, come visit me if you want so much to know me,
and this fellow walked in not speaking good French.
I said to him do you know how the locust sounds?
He said No and smiled at me, not trying to answer.
Then he told me he lived in Japan.
I have never been there, I never will.
I am old now and my pencil is almost eraser.
He said the Japanese children play with beetles in the trees,
he said they catch cicadas; I said those are not locusts,
what sings in a little box is not what flies at my nature,
I mean, my native Vladivostok. Then I told him about locusts,
and he looked at me like I am eaten.
What do you think, I said. He said I was kind to invite him.
Have another wine I told him, you are American,
I am a hollow plague of night.
Very poetical.
Very awful.
I can no longer see.
translated by metranil vavin from Russian into
French, and translated by clayton eshleman from
French into English.
the english versions are dedicated to denis kelly
French, and translated by clayton eshleman from
French into English.
the english versions are dedicated to denis kelly
Translated by Clayton Eshleman
Page(s) 181
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