Blackbird Archive
← v20n2, Fall 2021
Poetry · Volume 20, Number 2

Bees in Dew

Tomaž Šalamun, translation from Slovene by Brian Henry

Silver, dark green and

ocher bird feathers

were scattered across the grass.

Mama crawled naked over

four and chose them. Was there

sun?

Was there rain? There was gray dust

in the air. The Sava smelled of

sand. Violets are

foolish. They don’t know the weaponry

of potatoes. Keys

that unfold like tears.

They fall on the breeding ground

for turpentine. They fall under

the canopy. Under the sunny canopy.

naturesurrealismtranslation
Tomaž Šalamun

Tomaž Šalamun has published more than thirty books of poetry in his home country of Slovenia and is recognized as one of the leading poets of Central Europe. His honors include the Prešeren Fund Prize, the Jenko Prize, a Pushcart Prize, a visiting Fulbright to Columbia University, and a fellowship to the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa. Nine collections of his poetry have been published in English: The Book for My Brother (Harcourt, 2005), Row (Arc Publications, 2005), Blackboards (Saturnalia Books, 2004), Poker (Ugly Duckling, 2003), A Ballad for Metka Krasovec (Twisted Spoon, 2001), Feast (Harcourt Brace, 2000), The Selected Poems of Tomaž Šalamun (Ecco, 1988, edited by Charles Simic), The Four Questions of Melancholy (White Pine, 1997), and The Shepherd, The Hunter (Pedernal, 1992). His poems have been translated into more than twenty languages. Woods and Chalices , translated with Brian Henry, is forthcoming from Harcourt in 2008.