R writes
I will not die of
sickness
Or old age
Of anguish or of
tiredness
I will die of
And E writes
Many words but I
mostly remember
The dot dot dots
And R
(Another R) writes
The curious thing
about language is that it holds and makes visible
What
What never happened?
Ah
You have already
forgotten
He rejoiced
(That was W)
And F writes
I assume a posture of
pathos
Although
Although
And Y
“After these things
had come to pass”
“Always”
And L
The core of the
strange roselight
Out of the brilliant
angular silver
And U
I eat the lamp I blow
out the ghost
M writes
Don’t worry
Love
I have seen with my
own two eyes
On a frosty night
beside the Volga
A destitute Marxist
sleeping under the Kaiser’s sword
And
A writes something
called
“A Desire Moving
Through the Maps of the Material”
Which has the lines
The reference here is
to something
Other than ‘the divine
blessings’
Then there's B’s
For death is a strange
world
It fascinates small
children
(And yes
I am still a child)
Go into the room and
be reimbursed
Writes P
Budding like a lotus
from
Atop a box of gears
Y writes
Every rainstorm now
dislodges
A rock or two
V writes a poem in 5
parts
Before the first and
last howl
J doesn't write
Because he doesn’t
need to
[Note: Sources: Rothenberg/Joris except as noted. Rosario Castellanos, “Two
Poems” (tr. Magda Bogin); Ernesto Cardenal, “In Xóchitl in Cuicatl” (tr. Carlos and Monique Altschul); Robin Blaser, as quoted in the Rothenberg/Joris commentary; Emmett Williams, “The Red Chair”; Frederike Mayröcker (tr. Anselm Hollo); Yehuda Amichai, “National Thoughts” (tr. Stephen Mitchell); Denise Levertov, “Age of Terror”; Unsi al-Hajj, “The Charlatan” (tr. Pierre Joris); Muhammad al-Maghut, “Executioner of Flowers” (trs. May Jayyusi and Naomi Shihab Nye); Adonis, “A Desire Moving Through the Maps of the Material” (trs. Allen Hibbard and Osama Isber); Badr Shakir al-Sayyab, “The River and Death” (trs. Pierre Joris and Hedi Jaouad); Patrick Durgin “Go Into the Room …” and “The Litmus Redact”, in Imitation
Poems; Yusuf al-Khal, “The Wayfarers” (trs. Sargon Boulus and Samuel Hazo); Vasko Popa, “Burning
Shewolf” (tr. Charles Simic)]
