Sandu Macrinici 

Translator

around the buildings
squeaking
it approaches
an old man

in the cart
he carries
something white

from nearby I can see
that he has
a gas hob

he approaches the
bin
opens it

fills it with
all sort of
goodies

​                                            “You are blood of our blood, flesh of our flesh. 
​                                            Everything we do is for your own good.”

​                                            “All that is done is for the better.”
 
          mom grows
          in grandma’s uterus
          I die
          in grandma’s uterus
 
the house looked normal from the outside All of us saw just the Father They knew he also had sons but never suspected how many Mom was missing from next to the Father Rumors about her started to be heard Nobody thought that Mod just doesn’t exist or doesn’t exist anymore
 
          at that moment
          I entered
          The house
          I knew They
          know that
          I had to come
          The dog was tied
          it had bitten the noose and jumped
          to welcome me
 
          Your mom
          had died
          for you
          you will die
          for me
          pray
          for me not to die
          and you will be alive too

I slammed down the bags The house was silent I knocked on the door and mum opened it Just as usual she was really tender telling me how thin I got that I am a good smart guy but with no luck At that moment father came

we didn’t wish to die Father got us everything both cigarettes and women The cigarettes got finished the women left and at that moment we wanted father to die Father appeared with a knife in his hand and we prayed not to get killed
 
          then father came
          shook my hand
          sat down
          showing that
          the distance between
          a father and a son
          shall never disappear
 
We were lots and we didn’t know our names That’s why loneliness was the same for us Nobody bothered to share his thoughts loudly We ate the same food had the same women smoked the same cigarettes We thought about our Father Sometimes we believed that Mom is the death Mom died and we couldn’t understand why is Father still alive If Mom is the death how will Father die? Our life will be pointless if Father doesn’t die
 
          I got a little dog
          that father will
          never
          be able to tie
          father sent me to sleep
          tomorrow I’ll wake you up early
 
          today father said
          let us all write
          about this rose
          and share poems after
          I said I don’t want
          I better write
          About you
 
father is sober in the morning father asks for my poems in the morning He reads them and praises me He asks me what other books did I bring we talk about literature In the evening father retells me the family history from its beginnings to the present He tells me I’m a lot like my mother that my poems are really bad that I’m not a strong person and I’ll be the same all my life if I won’t cut the lines he doesn’t like
 
father pretended to sleep just to spy on me mom asks the neighbors how am I
 
          father said c’mon
          wake up
          he called for me
          but nobody answered
          then father entered
          the house
 
mom entered the house too She washed the blood on the floor argued with father because of the mess he does Take the spade and dig a hole He is our son We love him and we must bury him in the way a son is buried
 
We loved Father he loved us Father was alone and we were alone Father was killing us and we were killing father
 
                        OBSERVATIONS

                        1. When you see a bird flying between the clouds you want it
                        to be yours. You kill her in order for it to be yours.  
    
                        2. The poem embraced everything. It had hands, legs, uterus,
                        penis, it had mom and father. Father killed mom killed
                        father. Mom and Father killed the son. If you have never felt
                        The Death of a Poem, you have never felt anything.
 

an old man
paralysed on one side
of his body
is carrying
a bucket to the bin

another old man
leaves
his cart
takes his bucket
empties it

a car is
honking
doesn’t have space

I woke up with Anastasia
in my head

the children from the next door nursery
are shouting
A-NAS-TA-SI-A
A-NAS-TA-SI-A

when I finish my coffee
they disappear
to sleep

now
they are awake
have revolted voices
and scream
RE-SIGN
RE-SIGN

a woman pulls
in the leash
a trimmed dog
fluffy only on his head
like a balloon
only
from time to time
the puppy touches
the ground

the women wearing skirts
who take the trash are
artists

a foot in front
a hand with the bag lifted up
the back foot lifted

the ones wearing trousers
are not

it’s spitting
the drops are racing
the yellow leaves

maple walnut linden Indian bean

yellow everywhere

I’ve reached the age when
it’s not enough to be well
only myself

leaves are falling
I drink smoke take
pills for
the faith of the world

an old man
with a long object
on his shoulder
is pulling a cart

everyone is avoiding him

from a far
the broom and the cart
seem
a rifle and
a body

under my balcony
all the neighbourhood dogs shit

I can see chicks coming out
from the neighbouring buildings and
are running towards me with
their fat puppies

they shit and run back

even the red bitch with
hidden cubs is
shitting here

it’s full of dandelions in the spring

FATHER
today
you
had
to come
to this city
 
YOU had
to come
to ME TODAY
 
but
 
Father
I have waited
for you to come today to this city
and take me home
 
come earlier
my brother said
today
father must come
 
today
my friend left
and I
waited you
to come
father
 
you know I want
my father to die
my father is sick
and you know
I would like father
to kill himself
 
today when everybody quarrelled
I have spoken and everybody laughed
you know I said
I want my father to die
 
sun made me sweat like an animal
I was in the desert and I had not even seen
camels nobody
I was alone
I couldn’t even dream about some exhausted people
that pass through sand as in the novels of Fowles
father i don’t know even why
but  didn’t feel bad
I knew you had to come
 
father I found out
that you got really sick
somebody would have said that
you’re gonna die
you’ve got kidneys disease and
today when I went to the balcony to smoke
the sky the earth have
seemed to me as a big unbearable kidney
with stones instead of stars
 
you are
sick
and I
can’t
do
anything-anything
you better
die father
than this
 
 
Dante was travelling through hell
purgatory heaven to get
to simply
look
at the sky with stars
And you have to die
father
 
my streets got dark
like some thoughts
today all my thoughts are about you
yesterday I wanted to tell a woman
 
I loved you and I will always
love you
nobody would never
be able to change this regarding you
neither I             nor you
 
but this lost
thoughts
were not for her
 
and
 
I get off the trolley
my feet start
running
actually it all depends
of you
I don’t know if you came or you didn’t
but I want to get
to open the door faster
and although you were always very calm
today I want to open the door
loosen my hands
 
father I want
to open the door
and tell you