Protuberances Poem by Aleš Šteger

Silent eruptions of ions. Energy suspended in signs.
Antigravity. Magnetism's dance in bone swellings.

Protuberances.

Visible to the naked eye only with the body thrust in darkness,
With the body in shadow and helpless, the body surrendered,
Like the patient surrendered to the indifferent hands of technicians
Closing behind them the door to the x-ray cabinet.
They leave him to himself and the machine

Elastically suctioning his chest.
Radiation. Possibly fatal.
Protuberances.

A hundred million miles away from the sun's chromosphere
Masses of white-hot gas lift up for no real reason
Etch the miraculous image on the periphery of the void
Then detach and race off into space at great speed.
Radiance. Barely perceptible.

Protuberances.
Protuberances.

Be the word length of the light waves
That travel through memory and flesh
Recording the wounds to heal the names
Of this world's mutilations.

Translated by W. Martin and Janko Lozar