What We Are When We Are

Kaj smo, ko sm

Translated by Tom Priestly
By Cvetka Lipu
Categories: Literature & Language Studies, Poetry
Publisher: Athabasca University Press
Ebook (PDF) : 9781771992503, 104 pages, September 2018
Ebook (EPUB) : 9781771992510, 104 pages, September 2018
Ebook (Kindle) : 9781771992527, 104 pages, September 2018

Excerpt

To-do list

First thing in the morning I check you off the list,
for you are still asleep. Together the sun and I
make our rounds, we add up the streets in our district,
I subtract the one with a dog. During the meeting,
engrossed in a game of Battleships, when someone says “A 4”
the project goes belly-up. After lunch I throw in
the towel, so that all afternoon I am counting
the threads and strands. On the way home
I pop into the store for merchandise into which
I put my efforts. My legs find their way into
a nearby bar: there people I know
balance up the empty years and the full
glasses into an odd number. When I get back,
you are half asleep. Drowsily you look over
your own list and cross me off.

Table of contents

Foreword • Donna Kane

Odprti konec / Open End
Regrets / Regrets
Jutranja vožnja / Morning Journey
Kaj bi / What If
Zaposlitev / Employment
Sanje / The Dream
Dedicina / Inheritance
Vdova / The Widow
Deseti januar / January Tenth
Koncert za glas in nebo / Concerto for Voice and Sky
Težki od casa / Heavy with Time
Naj sonce ne zaide nad jezo / Let Not the Sun Go Down on Your Anger
Slovo / Saying Goodbye
Nespecnost / Sleeplessness
Novi naslov / The New Address
Poglej nas, kako lebdimo / Watch Us Float
Obisk / The Visit
Noc z grozo v gobcu / A Night with a Threat in Its Muzzle
Vodic / Guide
Gibalo / Perpetuum Mobile
Kje si, ko si / Where You Are When You Are
Negovanje / Caring
Prehod / Passage
Pocitnice / Holidays
Lake Mendota / Lake Mendota
Pogled zavesti / The Look of Consciousness
Dreams Limited / Dreams Limited
To-Do List / To-Do List
Prijavni urad / The Registration Office
Na levem boku dneva / On the Port Side of the Day
Drago življenje, / Dear Life,
Cakanje / Waiting

Afterword • Tomaž Toporiic
About the Author and Translator

Description

Working within a postmodern style, this rhythmic and melodious collection of poems originally written in Slovenian by Cvetka Lipu and translated here by Tom Priestly, blends the real with the surreal, dull urban lives with dreams. Lipu, known for the lexical beauty of her work, dwells on topics of time and space which she handles in an almost revolving, irreverent manner. Priestly captures the maze-like characteristic of her verse and carefully reconstructs the sonoric beauty of the work in its original language.

Awards

  • Short-listed, Veronika Prize 2015