Centre for Romanian Studies

Poetry in Translation (CLXXV): Ana Ristović
(b. 1972, Serbia), “Snow in your shoes”, “Zăpadă în bocanci”

Ana Ristović
Serbian Poet

Ana Ristović
(b. 5 April 1972, Belgrade, Serbia)

Snow in your shoes

One does not build a house collecting cutlery
even though a few extra spoons
come in handy sometimes.
One does not build a house from new curtains
even though different views
from time to time
should be shielded by new cloth.
For a home to be a home, among other things
you need a lot of things
you would gladly renounce
in advance.
Listen to what Eskimos say:
to build a good igloo,
for years you have to carry
snow in you shoes.
And a safety pin, forgotten
in your coat collar,
near the jugular.

“One does not build a house from new curtains
even though different views
from time to time
should be shielded by new cloth.”

Zăpadă în bocanci
Ana Ristović
(n. 5 Aprilie 1972, Belgrad, Serbia)

Nu poţi clădi o casă doar din tacâmuri
deşi câteva linguriţe în plus
n-ar strica.
Nu poţi clădi o casă doar din perdele,
deşi din când în când
unele odăi
ar putea avea la ferestre material nou.
Ca să-ţi infiripezi o casă nouă, între altele
îţi mai trebuiesc
mult prea multe lucruri
la care de fapt ai renunţa
dinainte.
Iată ce spun Eschimoşii:
Ca să poţi clădi
un iglou bun
trebuie mai întâi să mergi
cu zăpada în bocanci.
Si cu un ac de siguranţă
rătăcit sub gulerul paltonului
lângă jugular.

(Rendered in Romanian by Constantin ROMAN, London,
© 2013 Copyright Constantin ROMAN)

BIO NOTE:
Ana Ristović was born on 5 April 1972 in Belgrade, where she graduated in comparative literature and since then she had published four volumes of poetry.

Her poems have been translated into English, German, Slovakian, Macedonian, Slovenian, Polish, Bulgarian, Swedish and Finnish.
Besides poetry, Ristović writes essays and articles on literary criticism and also publishes translations from Slovenian language. She is an editor of “Balcanis” a multicultural magazine.