Craig Goodworth, Horse Study #6 (after Fairchild), 2010
Планета взрослых
Планета взрослых это навсегда
для тех кто спит, покуда города
переливаются: то меркнут то светлеют,
звенят ключи, поскрипывают двери
и чей-то смех звучит из темноты,
качается весенний мягкий воздух,
подвижные табачные цветы
лениво распускаются. Как просто,
как яростно из тьмы, из ничего,
из недр огнеустойчивого пепла
выскальзывает месяц кочевой
…и прячется. Влюблённые на землю
не смотрят. И не в силах утерпеть,
легко, как свечки, вспыхивают окна
и трогательный дождь желает петь,
а клен – дрожать и романтично мокнуть.
Их не уговорить, не удержать,
они бегут – им есть куда бежать,
качается весенний мягкий воздух.
как далека еще пока планета взрослых!
The Planet of Adults
(Translated by Sergey Gerasimov from Russian)
The planet of adult is forever.
It’s for those who can’t sleep while cities
are shimmering, playing with colors,
now they darken, then become lighter,
door keys jingle, doors creak slightly,
and someone’s laughter rings out of the dark.
The soft spring air sways;
the unsteady tobacco flowers blossom out lazily. So easily,
so fiercely, out of nothing, out of the darkness,
out of the abyss of the fireproof ashes,
the nomadic horned moon slides
… and hides again. Those who are in love
don’t look down, on the earth.
So effortlessly, like candles, windows blaze up,
they can’t stand the night any longer,
and the poignant rain wants to sing so much,
and a maple wants to quiver and get romantically wet.
You can’t stop them, can’t persuade,
they run away, they know where,
while the soft spring air sways.
The planet of adults
is still so far away.
_____________________________
Julia Samorodova
Review by Jared Pearce
What I find so great here is the beginning linked to the ending. That was not some weird reversal on Aristotle. What I mean is, on the one hand, “The planet of adults is forever,” and, on the other, “The planet of adults / is still so far away.” The fracturing of the conclusion’s assertion is reinforced not just in the contrast of the poem’s opening and closing; it is illustrated in the various attitudes presented by the images between the poem’s top and bottom. Adults are those animals that, at once, see what they want, think they can control the world to get it, and then realize their own insufficiency: “You can’t stop them, can’t persuade, / they run away, they know where”.
Review by Tim Suermondt
Julia’s title piqued my interest. It’s a lovely but slightly strange poem and I may not have gotten it precisely. It’s a poem of soothing images and lines, including one I really liked: and a maple wants to quiver and get romantically wet. But there’s something missing and maybe why the planet of adults is still so far away is because we don’t always act like adults (remember, for instance, asking over the last number of years “Where are the adults in the White House?), which can lead to the worst. Maybe one of these days we won’t have to look down when we’re in love, we can look each other in the eye and make the planet truly special and adult. In the meantime, Samorodova’s subtle poem with a bite will keep prodding us to do so.