Centre for Romanian Studies

Poetry in Translation (CCIX): Branko CEGEC, (b. Croatia, 1957), CROATIA, “The sexuality of revolutions ”, “Sexualitatea revoluţiilor”,

The sexuality of revolutions
Branko Cegec (b. 1957, Croatia)

a take of a vapid pedestal: I enter deeper into the night,
into sleep, into the ugly, into ire:
a row of amiable skeletons, dear cousins
who are no more: at the end of the road only the sad, jelly-like
girl swimmer waves back a greeting through the desert and
the grove of the earthly remains of the banal souls of slaves
from the garden of eden in the eyes,
a hour after midnight
through which rumbled years and condoms,
softness, nudity, the humidity of mortal meeting-points.

Sexualitatea revoluţiilor
Branko Cegec
(n. Croatia, 1957)

prvind acest piedestal banal: pătrund mai adânc în noapte,
în somn, în urât, în mânie:
un şir de schelete milostive, toate rude dragi,
răposate demult: la capătul drumului – doar silueta tristă, ştearsă,
a tinerei care înnoată, făcandu-mi semn cu mâna, prin pustiu, şi iarăşi
crângul cu rămăşiţele pământeşti ale unor robi fără nume
o oră după miezul nopții,
privind din grădina cerească,
prin care se perindă anii şi condomul
moale, gol şi umed – o convergență implacabilă.

Versiune în limba Română
de Constantin Roman, Londra,
© 2012, Copyright Constantin

SHORTR BIO:

The writer, editor, critic, anthologist, essayist and translator Branko Čegec (1957) made his poetic debut with experimental poems, and subsequently devoted himself to free verse. A highly influential editor, first of one of the most significant literary magazines in the former Yugoslavia, Quorum (1985-1989), and then in his own publishing firm, Meander, which he founded in 1992; in 1999 he was appointed the chairman of the managing board of Goranovo Proljeće, the most important poetry festival in Croatia.
(Text from: Poetry International Rotterdam)