Miroslav Kirin Poems

The ground - still wet from the afternoon shower. Each little grass-blade
persistently returns the raindrops to the sky.
Having overheard this harmless dialogue, we failed to notice
the nightfall - suddenly it was there, between two cups of tea.
...

THE BOAT WAS PACKED FULL,
the coast deserted, soon to be lost from sight.

We were rowing for hours,
we were departing and arriving.
...

Unfathomable, just like when I rinse the dirty dishes in the warm, gushing water,
put them aside to dry, and my face is aglow with happiness.
With an unmeant easiness I open the window to let in the fresh morning air.
The water is boiling, and from the silvery box I add four teaspoons of coffee.
...

my tongue falls out of my mouth
it is no longer a tongue, it is a huge calf's liver
of the calf we slaughtered yesterday
...

They don't allow me to read on the tram, especially you, with your hair swinging
left-right.
You're tossing it onto the page I am reading, splaaash, all the words vanish
and I have to look up at you.
...

Early in the morning a naked woman kneels on the kitchen floor praying.
The smoke from the heating plant rises steadily.
A soprano from Schnittke's madrigal interferes with the voice of the potato vendor coming from the street.
The chill descends to the root of a plant
...

Allegedly, God crouches by each newborn child whispering all sorts of tales into his ear, inducing him to scream. The child's silence stands for the defeat of God. However, all is bound to end up in the denial of silence. John Cage set a limit to 4' 33'';
...

What is a shoe doing in the grass of the park? Ask her at once.
Let her know it is outrageous. Ask her why she's alone,
where her left or right match is, why she's not looking for it.
Why she has agreed to be alone. After the shower she's full of
...

JEDINI SI KOME svaki dan
propadne i nestane.

Da je barem tako, pomisli samo,
nitko drugi ne bi sjeo za ispražnjeni stol i zaplakao.

Vidi (kaže): Ovdje nema ničega.
Za sve što će doći već sada vrijedi otići spavati.

Spava mi se zaista,
bez objašnjenja, kaže

taj Portugalac.
(A ti potom pjevaj

s one strane, u društvu
šepavih i mutavih.)
...

YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE for whom every day
is ruined and then gone.

If it could be so, think for a moment,
no one else would sit down at the vacant table and start crying.

Look (he says): There is nothing here.
For all that will come you have to go to bed right now.

I'm sleepy, really,
without any reason, says

that Portuguese man.
(So, go on singing

on the other side, in the company
of the lame and mute.)
...