Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Sinéad Morrissey

SHADOWS IN SIBERIA ACCORDING TO KAPUŚCIŃSKI

SCHADUWEN IN SIBERIË VOLGENS KAPUŚCIŃSKI

staan rechtop
niet door zonlicht maar bevroren adem:

we ademen
gehuld in een silhouet

dat staan blijft
als wij verdergaan, anders dan

de zonneschaduw
aan je enkels. Een jongen was hier –

wonderlijk gekleed
tegen de poolkou als kostbaar glas

verpakt in noppenfolie –
hij is verdwenen tussen de zuilen

van zichzelf. Zelfs Alice,
met haar neus voor zwakke plekken

in de laklaag van deze wereld,
liet niet zo’n listig naamkaartje achter.

SHADOWS IN SIBERIA ACCORDING TO KAPUŚCIŃSKI

Are upright –
cast not by sunlight but by frozen breath:

we breathe
and are enveloped in an outline

and when we pass,
this outline stays suspended, not tethered

to our ankles
as our sun-shadows are. A boy was here –

fantastically dressed
against the arctic frost like an heirloom glass

in bubble wrap –
he has disappeared into the portico

of himself. Not even Alice,
with her knack for finding weaknesses

in the shellac
of this world, left so deft a calling card.
Close

SHADOWS IN SIBERIA ACCORDING TO KAPUŚCIŃSKI

Are upright –
cast not by sunlight but by frozen breath:

we breathe
and are enveloped in an outline

and when we pass,
this outline stays suspended, not tethered

to our ankles
as our sun-shadows are. A boy was here –

fantastically dressed
against the arctic frost like an heirloom glass

in bubble wrap –
he has disappeared into the portico

of himself. Not even Alice,
with her knack for finding weaknesses

in the shellac
of this world, left so deft a calling card.

SHADOWS IN SIBERIA ACCORDING TO KAPUŚCIŃSKI

Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère