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Billy Collins

Forgetfulness

  • 1 Another Reason Why I Don't Keep A Gun In The House | Translations: dehu
  • 2 Forgetfulness | Translations: dehu
  • 3 NIGHTCLUB | Translations: dehu
  • 4 LITANY | Translations: dehu
  • 5 AIMLESS LOVE | Translations: dehu
  • 6 SURPRISE | Translations: dehu
  • 7 Drinking Alone
  • 8 Orient
Language: english
Translations: german (Vergesslichkeit), hungarian (Feledékenység)
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Forgetfulness

The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
never even heard of,

as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.

Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye
and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,

something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,
the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.

Whatever it is you are struggling to remember,
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue,
not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.

It has floated away down a dark mythological river
whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall,
well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.

No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.

© University of Pittsburgh Press
From: Questions about Angels
Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press , 1999
Audio production: Literaturwerkstatt Berlin 2011
Video

Translations:

Language: german

Vergesslichkeit

Der Name des Autors verabschiedet sich zuerst,
gehorsam gefolgt vom Titel, der Handlung,
dem herzzerreißenden Finale, dem ganzen Roman,
den du auf einmal nie gelesen, von dem du sogar noch nie gehört hast,

als hätten, Schritt für Schritt, die Gedanken, denen du Heimat warst,
beschlossen, sich auf die südliche Halbkugel deines Gehirns
zurückzuziehen, in ein kleines Fischerdorf ohne Telefon.

Vor langer Zeit küsstest du die neun Musennamen Ade
und sahst die Quadratgleichung ihr Ränzlein schnüren,
und selbst jetzt, wo du über die Abfolge der Planeten grübelst,

entwischt irgendwas anderes, eine Nationalblume vielleicht,
die Adresse eines Onkels, die Hauptstadt von Paraguay.

Woran auch immer du dich zu erinnern bemühst,
es liegt dir nicht auf der Zungenspitze,
lauert nicht mal in irgendeiner obskuren Ecke der Milz.

Es trieb einen dunklen mythologischen Fluss hinab,
dessen Name mit L beginnt, soweit du dich richtig erinnerst,
eisern auf deinem eigenen Weg ins Vergessen, wo du
jene triffst, die sogar vergaßen, wie man schwimmt oder Fahrrad fährt.

Kein Wunder, dass du mitten in der Nacht aufstehst, um in einem Buch
über Kriege das Datum einer berühmten Schlacht nachzuschlagen.
Kein Wunder, dass der Mond im Fenster einem Liebesgedicht
entstiegen scheint, das du mal auswendig kanntest.

aus dem Amerikanischen von Ron Winkler
Language: hungarian

Feledékenység

A szerző neve távozik először,
aztán engedelmesen követi a cím, a cselekmény,
a szívszaggató befejezés, majd az egész könyv,
amelyből hirtelen egy olyan regény lesz, amit nem olvastál,
és nem is hallottál róla,

mintha emlékeid, amelyek elmédben horgonyoztak, egyenként
elhatározták volna, hogy visszavonulnak az agy déli féltekéjére,
egy kis halászfaluba, ahol nincs telefon.

Már rég búcsút intettél a kilenc múzsa nevének,
láttad, ahogy a másodfokú egyenlet összecsomagol,
de még most is, miközben a bolygók sorrendjét próbálod
megjegyezni,

épp elillan valami, talán egy állam hivatalos virága,
egy nagybácsi címe vagy Paraguay fővárosa.

Bármire is próbálsz erősen visszaemlékezni,
nem egyensúlyoz a nyelved hegyén,
és mélabúd valamelyik homályos szegletében sem bujkál.

Elsodródott, lefelé egy sötét mitológiai folyó vizén,
a neve L-lel kezdődik, ha jól emlékszel,
miközben te is haladsz a feledés felé, ahol majd csatlakozol
azokhoz,
akik elfelejtettek úszni es biciklizni is.

Nem csoda, ha felkelsz az éjszaka közepén,
hogy utánanézz egy híres csata dátumának egy háborús könyvben.
Nem csoda, ha úgy tűnik, a hold az ablakon
egy olyan szerelmes versből süvít be, amit valaha fejből tudtál.

Kőrizs Imre fordítása
Megjelent: Billy Collins, Az a baj a költészettel, vál., ford., utószó Kőrizs Imre, Jelenkor Kiadó, Budapest, 2020.
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Billy Collins

photo © gezett.de
* , New York, United States
lives in: Somers, United States

Billy Collins was born in New York City in 1941. He is the author of several award winding books of poetry, and a recording of reading thirty-three of his poems, The Best Cigarette, was released in 1997. Collins's poetry has appeared in anthologies, textbooks, and a variety of periodicals, including Poetry, American Poetry Review, American Scholar, Harper's, Paris Review, and The New Yorker.

His work has been featured in the Pushcart Prize Anthology and has been chosen several times for the annual Best American Poetry series. Collins has edited Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry (Random House, 2003), an anthology of contemporary poems for use in schools and was a guest editor for the 2006 edition of The Best American Poetry.

 photo © gezett.de
In 2001, Collins was named U.S. Poet Laureate. His other honors and awards include fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation. In 1992, he was chosen by the New York Public Library to serve as 'Literary Lion'. He has conducted summer poetry workshops in Ireland at University College Galway, and taught at Columbia University, Sarah Lawrence, and Lehman College, City University of New York. He lives in Somers, New York.

Publications
  • Pokerface

    Kenmore Press, 1977

  • Video Poems

    Applezaba Press, 1980

  • The Apple That Astonished Paris

    Fayetteville, Arkansas: University of Arkansas Press, 1988

  • Questions About Angels

    Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1991

  • The Art of Drowning

    Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1995

  • The Best Cigarette

    Audio CD

    1997

  • Picnic, Lightning

    Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1998

  • Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes: Selected Poems

    Picador, 2000

  • Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems

    Random House, 2001

  • Nine Horses

    Random House, 2002

  • The Trouble with Poetry

    Random House, 2005

  • She Was Just Seventeen

    Santa Fe: Modern Haiku Press, 2006

  • Ballistics

    Random House, 2008

  • Horoscopes for the Dead

    Random House, 2011

Awards
  • 1983 Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts

  • 1986 Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts

  • 1991 National Poetry Series Publication Prize

  • 1992 New York Public Library 'Literary Lion'

  • 1993 Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation

  • 1994 Poetry Magazine - Poet of the Year

  • 2001 American Irish Historical Society Cultural Award

  • 2001-2002 US Poet Laureate

  • 2004 New York State Poet Laureate

  • 2005 Mark Twain Award for Humor in Poetry

Links
  • Billy Collins

    complete resource for Billy Collins poems, books, recordings

    Website (en)
  • Billy Collins at the Academy of American Poets

    Website (en)
  • Billy Collins at Wikipedia

    Website (en)
  • Trailer - Billy Collins Masterclass

    Website
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