SELF-PORTRAIT by Andrei Voznesensky
Unshaven and thin, with an angular face He's lain on my mattress for several days. A cast-iron shadow hangs down the stair, the lips, huge and bulging, smuggle and flare. "Hello, Russian poets, -- his voice sounds wistful -- shall I give you a razor or, maybe, a pistol? Are you a genius? Disdain all this chaos... Or, p'rhaps, you will say your confessional prayers? Or take a newspaper, clip out a bar and roll self-reproach like you roll a cigar?" Why is he cuddling you when I'm there? Why is he trying my scarf on? How dare? He's squinting at my cigarettes... Oh yes! Keep off me! Keep off! SOS! SOS!
© Copyright Alec Vagapov's translation
|