Perfection, Tomaž Šalamun | translator Brian Henry

← v7n1, Spring 2008

Leather without history. Strength without

rickets. From a drawer. On the hand a wire. Blood

is silk. Walk silently. Blood is like

fruit. Here too is heated.

Shah’s tanks are entrenched. First we thrashed

ourselves. We roared and got excited.

Mirrors have to function as ovens. You see them

from the road. On the machines producing

dreams. Some read between. The perfect

form springs up like an ear. I know

a chiropractor who can pull out your arm.

Five centimeters out of your shoulder.

Joints crunch. No need for oil. You spin

as you please. You leave when the tool falls asleep.

translation violence politics

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.