I've been translating poems by Ekaterina Boyarshikh (more about her below), a terrific Russian poet, who is actually still alive--for a change--and who is actually younger than I am. It's a totally different experience than translating those who are so long dead that their works are out there in the Public Domain--not to mention being unable to take umbrage with my shoddy language skills. It's sort of terrifying. But so far Katya hasn't complained...
Here's my first go:
Business
Her business: to sing, to swoon, to be afraid.
His business: to fight, to fly, to laugh.
And what about me?
My business: to lie about peace and freedom.
My business: Not to tell who I am.
My business is to stand on the main road: “Buy cherries! Buy cherries!”
His business: When she is sick, to cook her porridge.
My business: to reach the sea across the land.
Your business: to swim at the bottom of a well
Like a star winged with sad fins.
Our business: to think “none of our business.”
Your business: to hold us to no standard.
Your business: to bring us all to life.
My business: to be your threshold
through heart defect, misunderstanding.
Your business: lightning on roads
to drive me into a forest of doors and open windows.
Your business: to believe in my breath
at least a little more.
With nowhere to hide from the world
we went to the torture chamber.
We will not move out of prisons.
We will not move. We will disappear.
Ekaterina Boyarskikh is a poet, prose-writer, and scholar. She was born in 1975 in Irkutsk. Currently, she is a research fellow at the Russian Language and Literature Department of Irkutsk State University. She is the author of one book of poetry, Dagaz (OGI Press, 2005). Her work has appeared in journals, collections, and anthologies, and she has contributed to numerous online literary publications. She was awarded the Debut Prize for Poetry in 2000.
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