A night that cuts between you and you
and you and you and you
and me : jostles us apart, a man elbowing
through a crowd. We won't
look for each other, either-
wander off, each alone, not looking
in the slow crowd. Among sideshows
under movie signs,
pictures made of a million lights,
giants that move and again move
again, above a cloud of thick smells,
franks, roasted nutmeats-
Or going up to some apartment, yours
or yours, finding
someone sitting in the dark:
who is it really? So you switch the
light on to see: you know the name but
who is it ?
But you won't see.
The fluorescent light flickers sullenly, a
pause. But you command. It grabs
each face and holds it up
by the hair for you, mask after mask.
You and you and I repeat
gestures that make do when speech
has failed and talk
and talk, laughing, saying
'I', and 'I',
meaning 'Anybody'.
No one.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
- People At Night - A night that cuts between you and you and you and you and you and me: jostles us apart, a man elbowing through a crowd. We won’t look for each other, either- wander off, each alone, not looking in the slow crowd. Among the sideshows under movie signs, pictures made of a million lights, giants that move and again move again, above a cloud of thick smells, franks, roasted nutmeats- Or going up to some apartment, yours or yours, finding someone sitting int he dark: who is it really? So you switch the light on to see: you know the name but who it? But you won’t see. The florescent light flickers sullenly, a pause, but you command. It grabs each face and holds it up by the hair for you, mask after mask. You and you and I repeat gestures that make do when speech and failed and talk and talk, laughing saying ” I” and “I”. meaning “Anybody” No one.