AGAIN IN SUMMER
I will love again in summer
once foxes with bound feet
don’t have fur covered
in frost
or frozen noses
I will love neither wildly
nor tamely
a long lukewarm love
drowned in milk
Late morning almost noon
the stability of waking up in two
once I learn to respond
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THE MASTER
The Master steps back from the canvas
and squints
The Master looks with one eye
and scrunches his nose
The Master
musketeers his brush
hums a refrain
or is menacingly silent
The woman haughtily tilts into her pose
(on her stomach, a funfair)
Just wait until the evening, you varmint,
I’ll show you, maestro
you won’t be able to sleep
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OPHELIA TODAY
Instead of a bed
a drooled over blanket
And instead of flowers
dirt in the hand
To the horizon
there is no river
So drown me in the bathtub
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MARIE ŠŤASTNÁ has published four collections of poetry: Jarním pokrytcům (Unarclub, 1999), Krajina s Ofélií (Knižnice Ortenovy Kutné Hory, 2003), Akty (Protis, 2006) and Interiéry (Host, 2010). Her second collection was awarded the Jiří Orten Prize, and in 2010, she won the Dresden Lyrics Prize. She studied art history and cultural history at the University of Ostrava and now lives in Prague, where she earns a living as a jewellery maker.
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About the Translators:
JOSHUA MENSCH is a founding editor of B O D Y. He lives in Prague, Czech Republic.
JAN ZIKMUND is a Czech journalist and translator. His translations of American poets including Franz Wright and Carol Frost have appeared in a number of Czech literary magazines. He is the editor of B O D Y´s Czech Issue.