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AmericAn ScreAmPAlindrome APocAlyPSe

by Dubravka Oraić Tolić

American Scream: Palindrome Apocalypseby Dubravka Oraić Tolić

Copyright © 2005 Dubravka Oraić TolićAll rights reserved.

ISBN: 1-932010-10-6 978-1-932010-10-7

Translation by Sibelan Forrester, William E. Yuill, and Sonja Bašić. Revision by Julienne Eden Bušić.Cover photo by Miroslav Šutej, Covered eyes (Prekrivene oči, 2004).Cover design by Kevin “Vinnie” Kinsella.

Th is publication is the product of Ooligan Press and the Publishing Program of the Center for Excellence in Writing at Portland State University. It was produced entirely by the students of this program. For credits, see acknowledgments.

Publication of this work is partially underwritten by a grant from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia.

Portions of this book were previously published in the Croatian language.

Ooligan PressCenter for Excellence in WritingDepartment of EnglishPortland State UniversityPO Box 751Portland, OR 97207-0751ooligan@pdx.eduwww.ooligan.pdx.edu

AmericAn ScreAm

translated by Sibelan Forrester

3

American Scream

Too many nights awake and wakingsAt dawn. Conquistadores changeTheir attire, but their natureNever

Poets are Indians. VersesReservations

You need not struggle for poemsJust as for death

2

2 After the verses of Croatian poet, Antun Branko Šimić (1898–1925): “Poets are a wonder in the world.”

Dubravka Oraić Tolić

4

1 America has a smiling face And always arrives with the best intentions Usually in spring, when the mayflowers flower Of sailors and seas. When you want to vomit From the waves on shore And when old shores are short

America comes in the name of the freest freedom With a subtext of ivory. And frees For the happy exploitation of whiteness

America is like dialectics A cry lies in it just as dialectics Hold I, and sky, and die

America is the fear and trembling Of stranded poets

Poets, with broken ribs Lie in the sand: In blood of poems

And the shores shorten

5

American Scream

2

The ideal of grandfathers, decanted into the blood of sonsA dream of beauty, health, plentyThe East attacksFrom the flank

At the eastest place, O sword from the sheath, brethrenWhere the East instead of grain offers ideasWhere the cities are poorer, lower, narrowerBut the punks wonderful and sorrowful just like the good guys

Wretched East!Here gold is polished to red-hot steelHere worms themselves leap beneath the teeth of the righteousHere winds blow through the soul

O joyous destiny of the poet!All differences are pastRejoice in this shipwreckOf democracy and shoes of bast

2

2 Citation from the opera Nikola Šubić Zrinski (1876) by Croatian composer and conductor Ivan Zajc (1832–1914).

Dubravka Oraić Tolić

6

If between me and India there stands an equal sign, then I shall never get to live. Like Zeno’s arrow, I shall remain without life, for if I were to live, some difference would have to exist, and if a difference were to exist, some one of us, of India and me, would have to be dead, and if one of us is dead, then life for that one is definitely lost, and if life is definitely lost for someone who is equal to someone, then the other one too is lost, etc., etc.

HOME IS GONE, THE ROAD IS DONE And a new distance Swallows its Son

3

2

2 The aporia of the Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea, in which an arrow that has been shot remains stationary in spite of its movement.

7

American Scream

4 Yellow and indigo seas of force Seas of murders, seizure by nightmares and seas But why? Quare? Pourquoi? Wozu? Zachem?

For the black grain of pepper pounded to the ground For the parched pelt of a battered beaver For the hot blood drop of a carved cup of tea For a dozen dreamily disembarking women For home, for king For the sting Of ashen-grey novelty

Which, O well-earned spite Opens its jaws to bite The head off pilgrim And path

Our India, who art mislaid In the clouds that shroud the newest Columbi America, why is it that you Issue from out of my mouth?

2

2 quare (Latin), pourquoi (French), wozu (German), zachem (Russian)—why.

Dubravka Oraić Tolić

8

5 The shore of delight Recedes from sight Ships sail the ocean And water in motion

Sea weed. Indigo and violet threads, fingers stretch into the water, under the water. A bird is not familiar with horror when it catches sight of a fish between the algae. Nor the child who for the first time, t h e f i r s t t i m e goes into the cold, clear water inundated with weeds. How tiny are the boats with all cargoes in the indigo eyes of underwater beauties. Who is the one to place and erase the signs, the heaps of signs, between the seaweeds, birds, and the boats that seek unfound happiness.

They say that Columbus recognized the coast of India by the algae. Yes, it really was a coast. But the algae said nothing else. Sea weeds are not guilty for the blood that here, look, trickles down the stars.

How many little, utterly little people tonight for the first time felt their own, t h e i r o w n water between their legs?

9

American Scream

6

There are no more maidsThe fine’s no longer paidThe gold is producedThe sky is used

There are fewer and fewer bitter enemiesThe steadfast lost propertyFor the benefit of the majority which quickly foliatesInto utilizable individuals

Units of new individualsIdeas and gold reconciledRussia got red-hotMy “therefore” is reviled

And Magnitogorsk is ever more bitterMagnet gore or gorgeous mage

Dubravka Oraić Tolić

10

7 This world has a big moustache Frightful This age-old continent Honorably slackens Before the raging binge to which things have come At the expense of one captain’s breakdown

This world carries The cerebral convolutions of its head To motley conquistadores’ marketplaces And hangs in each house New Now already moustached Madonnas above the bed2

2 Allusion to the Mona Lisa with a moustache by Marcel Duchamps and to Stalin’s portrait in family homes in the Eastern bloc.

11

American Scream

8

Old Europe is migratingBeneath Columbus’ tattered mastHairy chests buzzHunched thunders of the past

Classics bellow in the bowels of boatsStuffed full of insatiabilitySailors stare into distancesAnd think of preserves

Gentlemen, monuments are little useBut as decoration fine to chooseBoats multiply cargoes with fish and crustsThe fish are just as mute as busts

You haven’t seen India here, I trust?

Dubravka Oraić Tolić

12

9

It’s easiest to discover AmericaThen later run aground on its brownish roarAnd to establish cities which will forgetThe best dreams of their establishersDreamt in pale April, chilly May

But all Americas are nice Brutal, black, and too cleanLike a bitter glass of spice With Americas what can you mean?

For Americas are always more important than youFor they drive you to lieAnd wipe themselves with the papers of your truths

WHOEVER IS FOR AMERICA, PLEASE SAY AYE!2

2 Reference to the cliché used at open votes in Communist countries. Failure to agree to the conclusions put forward, i.e. failure to say “Aye” (or raise one’s hand) revealed who the “enemies of the people” were.

13

American Scream

India I bite you India Golden Poisoned Apple

10

Enormous candies hoverAbove my acid faceOr children are no longer barefootOr there is no wine, no food

Roulettes, couplets, braceletsPierre, please, dis-moi la vérité...Noch einmal, eshcho raz, once moreWhat land is this again, Peter

And where is our door?

2

2 Roulettes, couplets, bracelets: wordplay with French; dis-moi la vérité (French), tell me the truth; noch einmal (German); eshcho raz (Russian), once more.