en

13748

Logo lyrikline pure Logo lyrikline claim
  • Contact
  • Partners
  • Donation
Login
  • Contact
  • Partners
  • Donation
  • deutsch
  • english
  • français
  • slovenščina
  • العربية
  • русский
  • español
  • português
  • 中文
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
all results
  • Poets
    • A-Z
    • by languages
    • by countries
    • All
  • Poems
    • by languages
    • in translation
    • Categories
    • All
  • Translators
    • A-Z
  • Translations
    • A-Z
  • NEW
    • Poems
    • Poets
    • Translations
Logo lyrikline pure Logo lyrikline claim
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
all results
  • Contact
  • Partners
  • Donation
  • deutsch
  • english
  • français
  • slovenščina
  • العربية
  • русский
  • español
  • português
  • 中文
  • Poets
    • new on Lyrikline
    • A-Z 
      • A
      • B
      • C
      • D
      • E
      • F
      • G
      • H
      • I
      • J
      • K
      • L
      • M
      • N
      • O
      • P
      • Q
      • R
      • S
      • T
      • U
      • V
      • W
      • X
      • Y
      • Z
    • by languages 
      • afrikaans
        albanian
        amharic
        arabic
        armenian
        aymara
        basque
        belarusian
        bengali
        bkms
        bosnian
        breton
        bulgarian
        burmese
        catalan
        chinese
        cree
        croatian
        czech
        danish
        dutch
        english
        estonian
        finnish
        french
        galician
        georgian
        german
        greek
        gujarati
        hebrew
        hindi
        hungarian
        icelandic
        indonesian
        irish
        italian
        japanese
        kalaallisut
        kannada
        korean
        kurdish
        latvian
        lithuanian
        macedonian
        malay
        malayalam
        maltese
        marathi
        montenegrin
        nepali
        northern sami
        norwegian
        oriya
        persian
        polish
        portuguese
        punjabi
        rhaeto-romance
        romanian
        russian
        scottish gaelic
        serbian
        shona
        sindhi
        sinhala
        slovak
        slovenian
        southern sami
        spanish
        swahili
        swedish
        tamil
        telugu
        tswana
        turkish
        ukrainian
        urdu
        uzbek
        vietnamese
        welsh
        xhosa
        yiddish
    • by countries 
      • Afghanistan
        Albania
        Algeria
        Andorra
        Angola
        Argentina
        Armenia
        Australia
        Austria
        Bahrain
        Bangladesh
        Belarus
        Belgium
        Bolivia
        Bosnia and Herzegovina
        Botswana
        Brazil
        Bulgaria
        Burundi
        Cambodia
        Canada
        Chile
        China
        Colombia
        Congo - Kinshasa
        Costa Rica
        Croatia
        Cuba
        Cyprus
        Czech Republic
        Côte d’Ivoire
        Denmark
        Dominican Republic
        Egypt
        Estonia
        Ethiopia
        Finland
        France
        Georgia
        Germany
        Ghana
        Greece
        Greenland
        Guatemala
        Guinea-Bissau
        Haiti
        Honduras
        Hungary
        Iceland
        India
        Indonesia
        Iran
        Iraq
        Ireland
        Israel
        Italy
        Jamaica
        Japan
        Kenya
        Kuwait
        Latvia
        Lebanon
        Libya
        Lithuania
        Luxembourg
        Macedonia
        Malawi
        Malaysia
        Malta
        Martinique
        Mexico
        Moldova
        Montenegro
        Morocco
        Mozambique
        Myanmar [Burma]
        Netherlands
        New Zealand
        Nigeria
        Norway
        Oman
        Pakistan
        Palestinian Territories
        Paraguay
        Peru
        Poland
        Portugal
        Puerto Rico
        Romania
        Russia
        Saint Lucia
        Saudi Arabia
        Senegal
        Serbia
        Singapore
        Slovakia
        Slovenia
        Somalia
        South Africa
        South Korea
        Spain
        Sri Lanka
        Sweden
        Switzerland
        Syria
        São Tomé and Príncipe
        Taiwan
        Trinidad and Tobago
        Tunisia
        Turkey
        Ukraine
        United Arab Emirates
        United Kingdom
        United States
        Uruguay
        Uzbekistan
        Venezuela
        Vietnam
        Yemen
        Zambia
        Zimbabwe
  • Poems
    • new on Lyrikline
    • by languages 
      • afrikaans
        albanian
        amharic
        arabic
        arawak
        armenian
        aymara
        basque
        belarusian
        bengali
        bkms
        bosnian
        breton
        bulgarian
        burmese
        catalan
        chinese
        cree
        croatian
        czech
        danish
        dutch
        english
        estonian
        finnish
        french
        galician
        georgian
        german
        greek
        gujarati
        hebrew
        hindi
        hungarian
        icelandic
        indonesian
        irish
        italian
        japanese
        kalaallisut
        kannada
        korean
        kurdish
        latvian
        lithuanian
        lushai
        macedonian
        malay
        malayalam
        maltese
        maori
        marathi
        montenegrin
        nepali
        northern sami
        norwegian
        oriya
        persian
        polish
        portuguese
        punjabi
        rhaeto-romance
        romanian
        romany
        russian
        scottish gaelic
        serbian
        shona
        sindhi
        sinhala
        slovak
        slovenian
        sorbian language
        southern sami
        spanish
        swahili
        swedish
        tamil
        telugu
        tswana
        tumbuka
        turkish
        ukrainian
        urdu
        uzbek
        vietnamese
        welsh
        western frisian
        xhosa
        yiddish
    • in translation 
      • abkhazian
        afar
        afrikaans
        albanian
        arabic
        araucanian
        armenian
        assamese
        azerbaijani
        bashkir
        basque
        belarusian
        bengali
        berber
        bkms
        bosnian
        breton
        bulgarian
        buriat
        catalan
        chechen
        chinese
        chuvash
        corsican
        croatian
        czech
        danish
        duala
        dutch
        english
        esperanto
        estonian
        finnish
        french
        galician
        georgian
        german
        greek
        gujarati
        haitian
        hebrew
        hindi
        hungarian
        icelandic
        indonesian
        irish
        italian
        japanese
        kalmyk
        kannada
        kashmiri
        kazakh
        kirghiz
        korean
        kumyk
        kurdish
        latin
        latvian
        lezghian
        lithuanian
        lushai
        macedonian
        malay
        malayalam
        maltese
        marathi
        mayan language
        mongolian
        nepali
        norwegian
        occitan
        oriya
        ossetic
        persian
        polish
        portuguese
        rhaeto-romance
        romanian
        romany
        russian
        sanskrit
        sardinian
        scots
        scottish gaelic
        serbian
        shona
        sindhi
        sinhala
        slovak
        slovenian
        sorbian language
        southern sami
        spanish
        swahili
        swedish
        swiss german
        tajik
        tamil
        tatar
        telugu
        tetum
        turkish
        turkmen
        udmurt
        ukrainian
        urdu
        uzbek
        vietnamese
        welsh
        yakut
        yiddish
    • genres & aspects
      • experimental poetry
      • concrete poetry
      • sound poetry
      • visual poetry
      • poetry projects
      • series / cycles
      • poetry for children
      • humorous poetry
      • narrative poetry
      • poems on poetics
      • Ecopoetry / Nature writing
      • political poetry
      • erotic poetry
      • dialect
      • performance
      • with music / sound
      • spoken word / Rap
      • translingual / hybrid / Pidgin
    • poetic forms & terms
      • ode
      • haiku / tanka
      • collage / montage
      • Dinggedicht
      • prose poem
      • rhymed stanza
      • renshi
      • sestina
      • sonnet
      • villanelle
      • ghazal
      • ballad
    • issues
      • society
        • identity (collective)
        • traditions
        • homeland
        • cities & urban life
        • history
        • politics
        • discrimination / racism
        • war
        • exile
        • economy
        • social critique / cultural criticism
      • life & relationship
        • family
          • birth
          • child
          • mother
          • father
        • infancy & youth
        • age
        • memory
        • identity (personal)
        • gender & sexuality
          • woman
          • man
          • sex / eroticism
          • homosexuality
        • friendship
        • love
        • marriage
        • relationship conflict
        • work
        • illness
        • body
        • violence
        • loss & separation
        • death / grief
        • funeral
        • religion / sprituality
        • Dream
        • travel
        • time
        • eating & drinking
        • alcohol & drugs
      • culture & science
        • architecture & design
        • poetry & poets
        • art & painting
        • literature & reading
        • fairy-tales & legends
        • medicine & science
        • music
        • mythology
        • philosophy
        • photography & film
        • popular culture
        • language
        • theater & dance
        • writing (poetry)
      • nature
        • spring
        • summer
        • fall
        • winter
        • landscape
        • water
        • animals
        • plants
    • Rhythmic Patterns
      • Parlando
      • Cadence
      • Variable Foot
      • Sprung Rhythm
      • Syncopations
      • Rubato
      • Permutations
      • Gestic rhythm (= Stressed Enjambements)
      • Cut-ups
      • Ellipses
      • Syllabic decompositions
      • Lettristic Decomposition
  • Translators
    • A-Z 
      • A
      • B
      • C
      • D
      • E
      • F
      • G
      • H
      • I
      • J
      • K
      • L
      • M
      • N
      • O
      • P
      • Q
      • R
      • S
      • T
      • U
      • V
      • W
      • X
      • Y
      • Z
    • Translates from 
      • afrikaans
        albanian
        amharic
        arabic
        arawak
        armenian
        aymara
        basque
        belarusian
        bengali
        bkms
        bosnian
        breton
        bulgarian
        burmese
        catalan
        chinese
        cree
        croatian
        czech
        danish
        dutch
        english
        estonian
        finnish
        french
        galician
        georgian
        german
        greek
        gujarati
        hebrew
        hindi
        hungarian
        icelandic
        indonesian
        irish
        italian
        japanese
        kalaallisut
        kannada
        korean
        kurdish
        latvian
        lithuanian
        lushai
        macedonian
        malay
        malayalam
        maltese
        maori
        marathi
        montenegrin
        nepali
        northern sami
        norwegian
        oriya
        persian
        polish
        portuguese
        punjabi
        rhaeto-romance
        romanian
        romany
        russian
        scottish gaelic
        serbian
        shona
        sindhi
        sinhala
        slovak
        slovenian
        sorbian language
        southern sami
        spanish
        swahili
        swedish
        tamil
        telugu
        tswana
        tumbuka
        turkish
        ukrainian
        urdu
        uzbek
        vietnamese
        welsh
        western frisian
        xhosa
        yiddish
    • Translates into 
      • abkhazian
        afar
        afrikaans
        albanian
        arabic
        araucanian
        armenian
        assamese
        azerbaijani
        bashkir
        basque
        belarusian
        bengali
        berber
        bkms
        bosnian
        breton
        bulgarian
        buriat
        catalan
        chechen
        chinese
        chuvash
        corsican
        croatian
        czech
        danish
        duala
        dutch
        english
        esperanto
        estonian
        finnish
        french
        galician
        georgian
        german
        greek
        gujarati
        haitian
        hebrew
        hindi
        hungarian
        icelandic
        indonesian
        irish
        italian
        japanese
        kalmyk
        kannada
        kashmiri
        kazakh
        kirghiz
        korean
        kumyk
        kurdish
        latin
        latvian
        lezghian
        lithuanian
        lushai
        macedonian
        malay
        malayalam
        maltese
        marathi
        mayan language
        mongolian
        nepali
        norwegian
        occitan
        oriya
        ossetic
        persian
        polish
        portuguese
        rhaeto-romance
        romanian
        romany
        russian
        sanskrit
        sardinian
        scots
        scottish gaelic
        serbian
        shona
        sindhi
        sinhala
        slovak
        slovenian
        sorbian language
        southern sami
        spanish
        swahili
        swedish
        swiss german
        tajik
        tamil
        tatar
        telugu
        tetum
        turkish
        turkmen
        udmurt
        ukrainian
        urdu
        uzbek
        vietnamese
        welsh
        yakut
        yiddish
  • Translations
    • new on Lyrikline
    • by source languages 
        afrikaans
        albanian
        amharic
        arabic
        arawak
        armenian
        aymara
        basque
        belarusian
        bengali
        bkms
        bosnian
        breton
        bulgarian
        burmese
        catalan
        chinese
        croatian
        czech
        danish
        dutch
        english
        estonian
        finnish
        french
        galician
        georgian
        german
        greek
        gujarati
        hebrew
        hindi
        hungarian
        icelandic
        indonesian
        irish
        italian
        japanese
        kalaallisut
        kannada
        korean
        kurdish
        latvian
        lithuanian
        lushai
        macedonian
        malay
        malayalam
        maltese
        maori
        marathi
        montenegrin
        nepali
        northern sami
        norwegian
        oriya
        persian
        polish
        portuguese
        punjabi
        rhaeto-romance
        romanian
        romany
        russian
        scottish gaelic
        serbian
        shona
        sindhi
        sinhala
        slovak
        slovenian
        southern sami
        spanish
        swahili
        swedish
        tamil
        telugu
        tswana
        tumbuka
        turkish
        ukrainian
        urdu
        uzbek
        vietnamese
        welsh
        western frisian
        xhosa
        yiddish
    • by target languages 
      • abkhazian
        afar
        afrikaans
        albanian
        arabic
        araucanian
        armenian
        assamese
        azerbaijani
        bashkir
        basque
        belarusian
        bengali
        berber
        bkms
        bosnian
        breton
        bulgarian
        buriat
        catalan
        chechen
        chinese
        chuvash
        corsican
        croatian
        czech
        danish
        duala
        dutch
        english
        esperanto
        estonian
        finnish
        french
        galician
        georgian
        german
        greek
        gujarati
        haitian
        hebrew
        hindi
        hungarian
        icelandic
        indonesian
        irish
        italian
        japanese
        kalmyk
        kannada
        kashmiri
        kazakh
        kirghiz
        korean
        kumyk
        kurdish
        latin
        latvian
        lezghian
        lithuanian
        lushai
        macedonian
        malay
        malayalam
        maltese
        marathi
        mayan language
        mongolian
        nepali
        norwegian
        occitan
        oriya
        ossetic
        persian
        polish
        portuguese
        rhaeto-romance
        romanian
        romany
        russian
        sanskrit
        sardinian
        scots
        scottish gaelic
        serbian
        shona
        sindhi
        sinhala
        slovak
        slovenian
        sorbian language
        southern sami
        spanish
        swahili
        swedish
        swiss german
        tajik
        tamil
        tatar
        telugu
        tetum
        turkish
        turkmen
        udmurt
        ukrainian
        urdu
        uzbek
        vietnamese
        welsh
        yakut
        yiddish
Login
  •  

Charles Simic

A Letter

  • 1 My Shoes | Translations: csdehrmsptrusrsvtruk
  • 2 The Writings of the Mystics | Translations: csdehrptrutr
  • 3 My Weariness of Epic Proportions | Translations: csdehrmsptrusrtruk
  • 4 Against Whatever It Is That’s Encroaching | Translations: csdemsptrusrtruk
  • 5 A Letter | Translations: csdehrptsvtruk
  • 6 Evening Walk | Translations: csdeptsrtr
  • 7 Labor and Capital | Translations: csdemspttr
  • 8 The Empress | Translations: csdemsptsrtr
  • 9 Night Music | Translations: csdemsptrutruk
  • 10 So Early in the Morning | Translations: deptrutr
Language: english
Translations: czech (Dopis), german (Ein Brief), croatian (Pismo), portuguese (Uma Carta), swedish (Ett brev), turkish (Mektup), ukrainian (Лист)
  • play
  • pause
Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.

A Letter

Dear philosophers, I get sad when I think.
Is it the same with you?
Just as I’m about to sink my teeth into the noumenon,
Some old girlfriend comes to distract me.
»She’s not even alive!« I yell to heaven.

The wintry light made me go out of my way.
I saw beds covered with identical gray blankets.
I saw grim-looking men holding a naked woman
While they hosed her with cold water.
Was that to calm her nerves, or was it punishment?

I went to visit my friend Bob who said to me:
»We reach the real by overcoming the seduction
     of images.«
I was overjoyed, until I realized
Such abstinence will never be possible for me.
I caught myself looking out the window.

Bob’s father was taking their dog for a walk.
He moved with pain; the dog waited for him.
There was no one else in the park,
Only bare trees with an infinity of tragic shapes
To make thinking difficult.

© Charles Simic
From: New and Selected Poems 1962-2012
New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013

Translations:

Language: czech

Dopis

Milí filosofové, z přemýšlení bývám smutný.
Taky to znáte?
Třeba se chystám pořádně zakousnout do noumenonu,
když vtom mě vyruší jakási bývalá milá.
„Vždyť ona už ani nežije!“ volám do nebe.

Zimní šerosvit mě svedl z cesty.
Viděl jsem lůžka s identickými šedými přikrývkami.
Viděl jsem ponuré muže držet nahou ženu
a polévat ji studenou vodou.
To jí zklidňovali nervy, anebo ji trestali?

Navštívil jsem přítele Boba, který mi řekl:
„Dojdeme k skutečnému, když odoláme vizuálním svodům.“
Byl jsem přešťastný, než jsem si uvědomil,
že takové odříkání nebude nikdy pro mě.
Přistihl jsem se, že koukám z okna.

Bobův otec šel vyvenčit psa.
Každý krok ho bolel; pes na něj čekal.
Nikdo jiný v parku nebyl,
jen holé stromy s bezmezným množstvím tragických tvarů,
které ztěžují myšlení.

přeložila Yveta Shanfeldová
Souvislosti 2/2017
Language: german

Ein Brief

Liebe Philosophen, wenn ich denke, werde ich traurig.
Geht euch das auch so?
Immer wenn ich versuche, in das noumenon einzudringen,
Kommt eine alte Freundin und stört mich.
»Sie ist nicht einmal am Leben!«, schreie ich zum Himmel.

Das frostige Licht lenkte mich von meinem Plan ab.
Ich sah Betten unter identischen grauen Decken.
Ich sah grimmig dreinschauende Männer eine nackte Frau festhalten
Und sie mit kaltem Wasser abspritzen.
Sollte das ihre Nerven beruhigen oder sie bestrafen?

Ich besuchte meinen Freund Bob, der mir sagte:
»Wir erreichen das Wirkliche, indem wir die Verführung
     durch Bilder überwinden.«
Ich war überglücklich, bis ich erkannte,
Mir würde solche Abstinenz nie möglich sein.
Ich ertappte mich beim Blick aus dem Fenster.

Bobs Vater ging mit dem Hund spazieren.
Er bewegte sich unter Schmerzen, der Hund wartete auf ihn.
Sonst war niemand im Park,
Nur kahle Bäume in einer Unzahl tragischer Formen,
Um das Denken zu erschweren.

Aus dem Amerikanischen von Wiebke Meier

Aus: Charles Simic. Picknick in der Nacht. Gedichte. München: Carl Hanser Verlag, 2016 © Carl Hanser Verlag München 2016
Language: croatian

Pismo

Dragi filozofi, mišljenje me rastužuje.
Zanima me, događa li se to i vama?
Čim zagrizem u noumenon
kakva bivša cura počne me opsjedati.
„Ali ona nije više čak ni živa!“ – uzalud dovikujem nebesima.

Zimsko svjetlo navelo me na ovaj put.
Vidio sam postelje s onim istim sivim prekrivačima.
I smrknute muškarce kako drže golu ženu
i polijevaju je šmrkom hladne vode.
Da li da je smire, ili kazne?

Posjetio sam prijatelja Boba, koji mi reče:
„Do stvarnog dolazimo odolijevajući zavođenju slikama.“
Bijah van sebe dok ne spoznah da je takvo uzdržavanje
za mene nemoguće. Uhvatio sam se, naime,
kako zurim kroz prozor.


Vani je Bobov otac šetao njihovog psa,
s mukom se krečući; paas je zastajao i čekao ga.
U parku nije bilo ničega osim golog drveća
s beskrajem tragična obličja
uza otežavanje mišljenja.

Prijevod: Damir Šodan
from the book Hotel nesanica, izabrane pjesme / Hotel Insomnia, Chosen poems
Language: portuguese

Uma Carta

Caros filósofos, fico triste quando penso.
Acontece-vos o mesmo?
Logo quando estou prestes a cravar os dentes no númeno,
Aparece uma ex-namorada para me distrair.
«Ela nem sequer está viva!», brado aos céus.

A claridade invernal fez com que me extraviasse.
Vi camas tapadas com idênticos cobertores cinzentos.
Vi homens carrancudos a segurarem uma mulher nua
Enquanto a regavam com a água fria de uma mangueira.
Seria para lhe acalmar os nervos ou seria um castigo?

Fui visitar o meu amigo Bob que me disse:
«Atingimos o real superando a sedução
das imagens.»
Fiquei exultante, até me aperceber
De que tal abstinência jamais estará ao meu alcance.
Apanhei-me a espreitar pela janela.

O pai do Bob estava a levar o cão a passear.
Avançava a custo; o cão esperava por ele.
Não havia mais ninguém no parque,
Só árvores nuas com uma infinidade de formas trágicas
A dificultarem o pensamento.

Tradução: Vasco Gato
Language: swedish

Ett brev

Kära filosofer, när jag tänker blir jag nedslagen.
Är det så för er också?
Just som jag skall sätta tänderna i nomenonet
kommer någon gammal flickvän och distraherar mig.
”Hon lever inte ens”, vrålar jag i himlens höjd.

Vinterljuset fick mig att gå åt det hållet.
Jag såg sängar täckta med identiskt lika filtar.
Jag såg män med dystert utseende hålla fast en naken kvinna
medan de sprutade kallt vatten på henne.
Var det för att lugna henne eller var det ett straff?

Jag hälsade på min vän Bob som sa:
”Verkligheten når vi genom att övervinna bildernas lockelse.”
Jag var överförtjust tills jag insåg
att sådan avhållsamhet aldrig skulle bli möjlig för mig.
Jag kom på mig själv med att titta ut genom fönstret.

Bobs far tog ut deras hund på promenad.
Han hade svårt att röra sig, hunden väntade på honom.
Det var ingen annan i parken,
bara kala träd med oändligt många tragiska former
som gjorde tänkandet svårare.

Översättning: Lasse Söderberg
Ur: Skola för mörka tankar (ellerströms, 2009)
Language: turkish

Mektup

Sayın filozoflar, üzülüyorum düşününce.
Sizde de oluyor mu aynısı?
Tıpkı dişlerimi numene batırmak üzereymişim,
Eski bir kız arkadaş kafamı karıştırmaya gelmiş gibi.
"O yaşamıyor bile!" diye bağırıyorum gökyüzüne.

Kış ışığı çıkardı beni yoldan.
Birbirine benzeyen gri battaniyelerle örtülü yataklar gördüm.
Çıplak bir kadını tutup soğuk suyla ıslatan
Asık suratlı adamlar gördüm.
Onu yatıştırmak için miydi, yoksa ceza mıydı?

Bana, "Görüntülerin ayartmasını önleyerek gerçeğe ulaşıyoruz."
Diyen arkadaşım Bob'u ziyarete gittim.
Çok sevinçliydim fark edinceye kadar 
Bu tür kaçınmalarımın hiç olamayacağını.
Pencereden dışarıya bakarken yakaladım kendimi.

Köpeklerini yürüyüşe çıkarıyordu Bob'un babası.
Ayak uydurdu patikaya; köpek bekledi onu.
Başka hiç kimse yoktu parkta;
Düşünmeyi zorlaştıracak sayısız trajik biçimdeki 
Çıplak ağaçlar sadece.

Çeviren: Baki Yiğit
Language: ukrainian

Лист

Шановні філософи, мені сумно, коли я думаю.
У вас так само?
Тільки-но я збираюся вгризтися в ноумен,
Якась із колишніх приходить і розсіює мою увагу.
«Та вона уже мертва!» – кричу я у небо.

Зимове світло збило мене зі шляху.
Я бачив ліжка, накриті однаковими сірими покривалами.
Я бачив понурих чоловіків, що тримали оголену жінку
І поливали її холодною водою.
Щоб заспокоїти її нерви? Чи то було таке покарання?

Я навідався до приятеля Боба, і він сказав:
«Ми сягаємо сущого, долаючи спокусу
образів».
Я не тямився з радості, доки не зрозумів,
Що така абстиненція – понад мої сили.
І піймав себе на тому, що дивлюсь у вікно.

Бобів батько саме вигулював пса.
Він тяжко переставляв ноги, пес зупинявся й на нього чекав.
Парк був порожній,
Лише голі дерева з нескінченністю трагічних форм –
Аби ще важче було думати.

Переклав з польської Остап Сливинський
Ostap Slyvynsky
previous poem
   (Against Whatever It...)
5 / 10
nächstes Gedicht
(Evening Walk)   
listen to all poems

Charles Simic

photo © gezett.de
* 09.05.1938, Belgrad, Serbia
† 09.01.2023, United States

Charles Simic (born in Belgrade in 1938) emigrated with his family from Yugoslavia to Chicago in 1953. He became a major American poet who, as he says himself, writes and dreams in a language he speaks with an accent. His work has earned awards such as the 2005 Griffin Poetry Prize (for his Selected Poems 1963-2003, 2004) and the Pulitzer Prize. In 2007 he was named as the 15th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress of the USA.

 photo © gezett.de
In his work, Charles Simic amalgamates various influences from American greats such as Emily Dickinson, Hart Crane and Theodore Roethke to nonsense verse, children’s verse and riddles to the Serb poets Ivan V. Lalić and Vasko Popa, whom he has translated into American. His poems are profound structures soaked in myth; but - “No myth without a funny bone.” The texts are full of cockroaches with fake identity papers and ants with Quaker hats. Buster Keaton meets Thomas of Aquinas, and Dostoevsky works as a bouncer in a murky nightclub. Simic is also a master of the small, everyday things in poems about coat-hangers, shoes, knives, lost gloves and keys.

Publications
  • What the Grass Says

    1967

  • Somewhere among Us a Stone is Taking Notes

    1969

  • Dismantling the Silence

    1971

  • White

    1972

  • Return to a Place Lit by a Glass of Milk

    1974

  • Biography and a Lament

    1976

  • Charon's Cosmology

    1977

  • Brooms

    Selected Poems

    1978

  • School for Dark Thoughts

    1978

  • Classic Ballroom Dances

    1980

  • Austerities

    1982

  • Weather Forecast for Utopia and Vicinity

    1983

  • Selected Poems

    1963–1983

    [1986 Pulitzer Prize finalist]

    1985

  • The Uncertain Certainty

    Interviews, Essays, and Notes on Poetry

    1985

  • Unending Blues

    [1987 Pulitzer Prize finalist]

    1986

  • Nine Poems

    1989

  • The World Doesn't End

    Prose Poems

    [1990 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry]

    Harvest Books, 1989

  • The Book of Gods and Devils

    1990

  • Wonderful Words, Silent Truth

    [Prose collection]

    1990

  • Hotel Insomnia, Harcourt

    1992

  • Dime-Store Alchemy

    The Art of Joseph Cornell

    1992 [Reprint NYRB Classics, 2011]

  • Ein Buch von Göttern und Teufeln

    Gedichte

    übersetzt aus dem Englischen von Hans Magnus Enzensberger und Rudolf von Bitter

    München: Carl Hanser Verlag, 1993

  • A Wedding in Hell

    Poems

    1994

  • The Unemployed Fortune-Teller

    Essays and Memoirs

    1994

  • Frightening Toys

    1995

  • Walking the Black Cat

    Poems

    1996

  • Orphan Factory

    Essays and Memoirs

    1997

  • Die Fliege in der Suppe

    übersetzt von Rudolf von Bitter

    München: Carl Hanser Verlag, 1997

  • Jackstraws

    Poems

    1999

  • Medici Groschengrab

    Die Kunst des Joseph Cornell

    übersetzt aus dem Englischen von Klaus Martens

    München: Carl Hanser Verlag, 1999

  • Selected Early Poems

    2000

  • A Fly in the Soup

    Memoirs

    2000

  • Grübelei im Rinnstein

    Ausgewählte Gedichte

    übersetzt aus dem Englischen von Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Jan Wagner, Rainer G. Schmidt, Michael Krüger

    München: Carl Hanser Verlag, 2000

  • Night Picnic

    2001

  • The Voice at 3:00 A.M.

    Selected Late and New Poems

    2003

  • The Metaphysician in the Dark

    [Prose collection]

    2003

  • Selected Poems

    1963–2003

    2004

  • Aunt Lettuce, I Want to Peek under Your Skirt

    2005

  • My Noiseless Entourage

    Poems

    2005

  • Monkey Around

    2006

  • Mein lautloses Gefolge

    Gedichte

    übersetzt aus dem Englischen von Wiebke Meier

    München: Edition Lyrik Kabinett bei Hanser, 2006

  • Das Geheimnis des Glücks

    Erinnerungen

    übersetzt von Melanie Walz von Reche. mit Zeichnungen von Kurt Löb

    2006

  • Die Wahrnehmung des Dichters

    Über Poesie und Wirklichkeit

    Ausgewählt und übersetzt von Thomas Poiss

    München: Carl Hanser Verlag, 2007

  • 60 Poems

    2008

  • That Little Something

    Poems

    2008

  • Monster Loves His Labyrinth

    2008

  • The Renegade

    Writings on Poetry and a Few Other Things

    2008

  • Master of Disguises

    2010

  • New and Selected Poems

    New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013

  • The Lunatic

    [poetry]

    New York: HarperCollins/Ecco, 2015

  • The Life of Images

    Selected Prose

    2015

  • Picknick in der Nacht

    Gedichte 1962–2015

    übersetzt aus dem Englischen von Wiebke Meier

    München: Carl Hanser Verlag, 2016

  • Scribbled in the Dark

    [poetry]

    HarperCollins/Ecco, 2017

  • Come closer and listen

    new poems

    New York: Ecco, 2019/2021

  • No Land in Sight

    Poems

    Knopf, 2022

  • Im Dunkeln gekritzelt

    Gedichte

    Aus dem Amerikanischen von Wiebke Meier und Michael Krüger

    München: Carl Hanser Verlag, 2022

Awards
  • 1980 PEN Translation Prize

  • 1983 Ingram Merrill Foundation Fellowship

  • 1984–1989 MacArthur Fellowship

  • 1986 Pulitzer Prize finalist

  • 1987 Pulitzer Prize finalist

  • 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

  • 2005 Griffin Poetry Prize - International Winner

  • 2007 Wallace Stevens Award

  • 2011 Frost Medal

  • 2011 Vilcek Prize in Literature

  • 2014 The Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award

  • 2017 Golden Wreath of the Struga Poetry Evenings

Links
  • Poetry Foundation

  • Charles Simic: Online Resources

  • Charles Simic @ Wikipedia

Remember poem / Add to List

remembered 3 times

Included in the following lists
  • ( english 1 )
    compiled by felisalgado
all public lists

Poem already on my list

If you want to remember or list a poem, become a community member.

Login/Register now
more poets from United States more poems in english Translations into english Charles Simic as a translator

Random poem

PUSH!

gedicht page complete: (0,099s)
  • About
  • Newsletter
  • Blog
  • Links
  • Produced by
  • privacy
lyrikline is created by Haus für Posie in cooperation with its international network of lyrikline partners
Poets Translators