Vasko Popa 2004 9

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9

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Classic Poetry Series

Vasko Popa

- poems -

Publication Date:

2004

Publisher:

PoemHunter.Com - The World's Poetry Archive
http://www.poemhunter.com/http://www.poemhunter.com/

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9

2/33ww.PoemHunter.com - The World's Poetry Archive

A Conceited Mistake

Once upon a time there was a mistake

So silly so smallThat no one would even have noticed it

It couldn't bearTo see itself to hear of itself

It invented all manner of thingsJust to provethat it didn't really exist

It invented spaceTo put its proofs inAnd time to keep its proofs

And the world to see its proofs

All it inventedWas not so sillyNor so smallBut was of course mistaken

Could it have been otherwise

Trans. Anne Pennington

Anonymous submission.

Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


A Forgetful Number

Once upon a time there was a number

Pure and round like the sunBut alone very much alone

It began to reckon with itself

It divided multiplied itselfIt subtracted added itselfAnd remained always alone

It stopped reckoning with itselfAnd shut itself up in its roundAnd sunny purity

Outside were left the fieryTraces of its reckoning

They began to chase each other through the darkTo divide when they should have multiplied themselvesTo subtract when they should have added themselves

That's what happens in the dark

And there was no one to ask itTo stop the tracesAnd to rub them out.

Trans. Anne Pennington


Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


Anne Pennington

Until her last breath she enlarges

Her Oxford houseBuilt in SlavonicVowels and consonants

She polishes the corner-stonesUntil their Anglo-Saxon shineBegins to sing

Her death is like a short breath-stopUnder the distant limetrees of her friends

Trans. by Peter Jay, Anthony Rudolf, and Daniel Weissbort


Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


Before The Game

Shut one eye then the other

Peek into every corner of yourselfSee that there are no nails no thievesSee that there are no cuckoo's eggs

Shut then the other eyeSquat and jumpJump high high highOn top of yourself

Fall then with all your weightFall for days on end deep deep deepTo the bottom of your abyss

Who doesn't break into piecesWho remains whole gets up wholePlays

Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


Between Games

Nobody rests

This one constantly shifts his eyesHangs them on his headAnd whether he wants it or not starts walking

backwardsHe puts them on the soles of his feetAnd whether he wants it or not returns walking

on his head

This one turns into an earHe hears all that won't let itself be heardBut he grows boredYearns to turn again into himself

But without eyes he can't see how

That one bares all his facesOne after the other he throws them over the roofThe last one he throws under his feetAnd sinks his head into his hands

This one stretches his sightStretches it from thumb to thumbWalks over it walksFirst slow then fastThen faster and faster

That one plays with his headJuggles it in the airMeets it with his index fingerOr doesn't meet it at all

Nobody rests

Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


Far Within Us #1

We raise our arms

The street climbs into the skyWe lower our eyesThe roofs go down into the earth

From every painWe do not mentionGrows a chestnut treeThat stays mysterious behind us

From every hopeWe cherishSprouts a starThat moves unreachable before us

Can you hear a bulletFlying about our headsCan you hear a bulletWaiting to ambush our kiss

Trans. by Anne Pennington


Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


Far Within Us #2

Look here's that uninvited

Alien presence look it's here

A shudder on the ocean of tea in the cupRust taking holdOn the edges of our laughterA snake coiled in the depths of the mirror

Will I be able to hide youFrom your face in mine

Look it's the third shadowOn our imagined walkUnexpected abyss

Between our wordsHoofs clatteringBelow the vaults of our palates

Will I be ableOn this unrest-fieldTo raise you a tent of my hands



Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


Far Within Us #3

Unquiet you walk

Along the rims of my eyes

On the invisible gratingBefore your lipsMy naked words shiver

We steal momentsFrom the unheeding iron saws

Your hands sadlyFlow into mineThe air is impassable



Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


Far Within Us #4

Green gloves rustle

On the avenue's branches

The evening carries us under its armBy a path which leaves no trace

The rain falls on its kneesBefore the fugitive windows

The yards come out of their gatesAnd stand looking after us



Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


Far Within Us #5

The nights are running out of darkness

Steel branches graspThe arms of passers-by

Only anonymour chimneysAre free to walk the streetsWhich slice across our sleeplessness

In the gutters our stars decay



Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


Far Within Us #6

From the wrinkle between my brows

You watch till day breaksOn my face

The waxen nightIs beginning to singeThe fingers of dawn

Black bricksHave already tiledThe whole dome of the sky



Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


Far Within Us #7

Toothed eyes fly

Over still waters

Around us purple lipsFlutter from branches

Screams hit the blueAnd fall onto pillows

Our homes hideBehind narrow backs

Hands clutch atFlimsy clouds

Our veins roll turbidBed and tables

Of shattered bonesNoon has fallen into our hands

And turned all gloomy

An open grave on the face of the earthOn your face on my face



Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


Give Me Back My Rags

Just come to my mind

My thoughts will scratch out your face

Just come into my sightMy eyes will start snarling at you

Just open your mouthMy silence will smash your jaws

Just remind me of youMy remembering will paw up the ground under your feet

That's what it's come to between us



Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


Give Me Back My Rags #1

Give me back my rags

My rags of pure dreamingOf silk smiling of striped forebodingOf my cloth of lace

My rags of spotted hopeOf burnished desire of chequered glancesOf skin from my face

Give me back my ragsGive me when I ask you nicely



Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9



I've wiped your face off my face

Ripped your shadow off my shadow

Leveled the hills in youTurned your plains into hills

Set your seasons quarrelingTurned all the ends of the world from you

Wrapped the path of my life around youMy impenetrable my impossible path

Just try to meet me now



Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9



Enough chattering violets enough sweet trash

I won't hear anything know anythingEnough enough of all

I'll say the last enoughFill my mouth with earthGrit my teeth

To break off you skull guzzlerTo break off once for all

I'll just be what I amWithout root without branch without crownI'll lean on myself

On my own bumps and bruises

I'll be the hawthorn stake through youThat's all I can be in youIn you spoilsport in you muddlehead

Get lost



Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9



Get out of my walled infinity

Of the star circle round my heartOf my mouthful of sun

Get out of the comic sea of my bloodOf my flow of my ebbGet out of my stranded silence

Get out I said get out

Get out of my living abyssOf the bare father-tree within me

Get out how long must I cry get out

Get out of my bursting headGet out just get out



Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


Hide-And-Seek

Someone hides from someone else

Hides under his tongueThe other looks for him under the earth

He hides on his foreheadThe other looks for him in the sky

He hides inside his forgetfulnessThe other looks for him in the grass

Looks for him looksThere's no place he doesn't lookAnd looking he loses himself

Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


In The Village Of My Ancestors

Someone embraces me

Someone looks at me with the eyes of a wolfSomeone takes off his hatSo I can see him better

Everyone asks meDo you know how I'm related to you

Unknown old men and womenAppropriate the namesOf young men and women from my memory

I ask one of themTell me for God's sake

Is George the Wolf still living

That's me he answersWith a voice from the next world

I touch his cheek with my handAnd beg him with my eyesTo tell me if I'm living too

Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


Last News About The Little Box

The little box which contains the world

Fell in love with herselfAnd conceivedStill another little box

The little box of the little boxAlso fell in love with herselfAnd conceivedStill another little box

And so it went on forever

The world from the little boxOught to be inside

The last offspring of the little box

But not one of the little boxesInside the little box in love with herselfIs the last one

Let's see you find the world now

Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


Race

Some bite from the others

A leg an arm or whatever

Take it between their teethRun out as fast as they canCover it up with earth

The others scatter everywhereSniff look sniff lookDig up the whole earth

If they are lucky and find an armOr leg or whateverIt's their turn to bite

The game continues at a lively pace

As long as there are armsAs long as there are legsAs long as there is anything

Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


The Admirers Of The Little Box

Sing little box

Don't let sleep overtake youThe world's awake within you

In your four-sided emptinessWe turn distance into nearnessForgetfulness into memory

Don't let your nails come loose

For the very first timeWe watch sights beyond this worldThrough your keyhole

Turn your key in our mouthsSwallow words and numbersOut of your song

Don't let your lid fly openYour bottom drop

Sing little box

Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


The Benefactors Of The Little Box

We'll return the little box

Into the armsOf her inconspicuously honest properties

We won't do anythingAgainst her willWe'll simply take her apart

We'll crucify herOn her own cross

Piece her bloated emptinessAnd let oozeAll the blue cosmic blood she gathered

We'll sweet her clean of starsAnd anti-starsAnd everything else that rots inside her

We won't make her sufferWe'll simply put her together again

We'll give back to the little boxHer pure inconspicuousness

Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


The Craftsmen Of The Little Box

Don't open the little box

Heaven's hat will fall out of her

Don't close her for any reasonShe'll bite the trouser-leg of eternity

Don't drop her on the earthThe sun's eggs will break inside her

Don't throw her in the airEarth's bones will break inside her

Don't hold her in your handsThe dough of the stars will go sour inside her

What are you doing for God's sakeDon't let her get out of your sight

Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


The Enemies Of The Little Box

Don't box down to the little box

Which supposedly contains everythingYour star and all other stars

Empty yourselfIn her emptiness

Take two nails out of herAnd give them to the ownersTo eat

Make a hold in her middleAnd stick on your clapper

Fill her with blueprintsAnd the skin of her craftsmenAnd trample on her with both feet

Tie her to a cat's tailAnd chase the cat

Don't bow down to the little boxIf you doYou'll never straighten yourself out again

Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


The Judges Of The Little Box

to Karl Max Ostojic

Why do you stare at the little boxThat in her emptinessHolds the whole world

If the little box holdsThe world in her emptinessThen the antiworldHolds the little box in its antihand

Who'll bite off the antiworld's antihandAnd on that handFive hundred antifingers

Do you believeYou'll bite it offWith your thirty-two teeth

Or are you waitingFor the little boxTo fly into your mouth

Is this why you are staring

Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


The Little Box

The little box gets her first teeth

And her little lengthLittle width little emptinessAnd all the rest she has

The little box continues growingThe cupboard that she was insideIs now inside her

And she grows bigger bigger biggerNow the room is inside herAnd the house and the city and the earthAnd the world she was in before

The little box remembers her childhoodAnd by a great longingShe becomes a little box again

Now in the little boxYou have the whole world in miniatureYou can easily put in a pocketEasily steal it lose it

Take care of the little box

Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


The Owners Of The Little Box

Line the inside of the little box

With your precious skinAnd make yourself cozyJust as you would in your own home

Make space voyages inside herGather stars make time squirt its milkAnd sleep in the clouds

Just don't go around pretendingYou're more important than her lengthAnd wiser than her width

If you do we'll sell her for a song

Your box and everything inside herTo the first fleecer to the wind

We don't care about profitAnd we don't keep spoiled goods

So don't keep sayingIt's we who told you thisFrom inside the little box

Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


The Prisoners Of The Little Box

Open little box

We kiss your bottom and coverKeyhole and key

The whole world lies crumpted in youIt resembles everythingExcept itself

Not even your clear-sky motherWould recognize it anymore

The rust will eat your keyOur world and us there inside

And finally you too

We kiss your four sidesAnd four cornersAnd twenty-four nailsAnd anything else you have

Open little box

Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


The Tenants Of The Little Box

Throw into the little box

A stoneYou'll take out a bird

Throw in your shadowYou'll take out the shirt of happiness

Throw in your father's rootYou'll take out the axle of the universe

The little box works for you

Throw into the little boxA mouse

You'll take out a quaking hill

Throw in your headYou'll take out two

The little box works for you

Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9


The Victims Of The Little Box

Not even in a dream

Should you have anything to doWith the little box

If you saw her full of stars onceYou'd wake upWithout heart or soul in your chest

If you slid your tongueInto her keyhole onceYou'd wake up with a hole in your forehead

If you ground her to bits onceBetween your teeth

You'd get up with a square head

If you ever saw her emptyYou'd wake upWith a belly full of mice and nails

If in a dream you had anything to doWith the little boxYou'd be better off never waking up again

Vasko Popa

7/29/2019 Vasko Popa 2004 9

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Wedding

Each strips his own skin

Each bares his own constellationWhich has never seen the night

Each fills his skin with rocksAnd plays with itLit by his own stars

Who doesn't stop till dawnWho doesn't bat an eyelid or fallEarns his own skin

(This game is rarely played)

Vasko Popa

Documents

Vasko Popa 2004 9