Michal Habaj Poems

This very night bites you with the moon in your face.
Sharp glistening teeth of the towers lit up the stars above our city,
as the black sky falls heavily into the gardens.
You are singing, dear princess of laboratories,
...

in dark forests: thickets and copses:
cyborgs: steel-swarthy constructions:
with mouthfuls of wild strawberries ponder:
what fujara was: who was a shepherd:
...

a faint shadow of a sister...

...that which emanates from fragile translucent bodies of plants
and autumn melancholies, faces of girls
frightened by coming of age.
...

A wing of eternity flashes above a serene night
and momentarily envelops the temple like flesh to a soul.

Poplars are snowballing,
and Maria turns her cheek to memories,
...

Between me and you
a few negligible centuries
flutter like a curtain in a window.
Here they are: a divan, chairs, candlesticks on the tables,
...

I saw seven-year-old models: exchanging
books instead of napkins: counting calories
in dumplings with pudding in school cafeterias: spelling
their names from fashion mag covers: the best
...

we saw deserts: covered with fine powder of Soir
de Paris: we saw seas: flooded with shampoos:
and moors blood-red deposits of nail varnish:
we saw the sun: blazing in the clouds reminiscent of
...

(dedicated to Valdemarr van Staveren van Dijk)


the wind hushes its breath so pretty are the hairstyles of the girls
the little wooden chapel is praying for their souls
...