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

Of Course the Line Is a Circle

Tomaž Šalamun, translation from Slovene by Brian Henry

It’s imprinted in the image

of a whale. It fashions

its body. It’s also similar to rolling

a bell so that only

one part of the bell imprints

the line. Who wanted to leap out

of Siberia? Those who’ve already

thawed? The sun is suspicious there.

Fever constructs houses out of

plasticine. Little birds grate and stroke

their little nests. Check out

Boston Review! Just like in

the sweet times long ago.

Brian, Peter, Matthew and I.

naturefriendshiptranslation
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.