DANA PODRACKÁ – Translated by Nina Varon


DANA PODRACKÁ

Translated by Nina Varon

 

METAPHYSICS OF A WOUND

 

A wound is a gateway, an opening in the physical tissue
through which it is possible to go in and out

I belong to those that assume
no difference exists between music
and stigma

The wound sings

Sometimes images of myself come to me
where I the child am peeling my scabs prematurely
and partially around their edges, at first
all the way to the middle
the lyre is

 

 

METAFYZIKA RANY

 

Rana je brána, trhlina psychického tkaniva,
cez ktorú sa dá vchádzať von a dnu

Patrím k tým, čo sa domnievajú,
že nejestvuje rozpor medzi hudbou
a stigmou

Rana spieva

Občas ma navštevujú obrazy,
kde si ako dieťa predčasne lúpem chrasty
najprv po obvode, po malých kúskoch,
až po stred,
kde je lýra

 

TO WALK ON THE BOTTOM

 

I walk on the bottom, bare feet listen
to a coal bed where a cell,
a basement, or cold darkness could be,
intertwined with the underground of Great Mother

Soles are a telephone,
connecting to what’s invisible
until a psychic call resounds

At the unknown end is my inner voice,
composed from a mosaic of descendants and ancestors

Do we hear you?
We hear you

A voice in a cosmic sea of mirrors
me to prepare myself
for a face-to-face meeting

 

PRECHÁDZAŤ DŇOM

 

Prechádzať dnom, bosé nohy načúvajú
zasypaným slojom, kde môže byť
cela, pivnica alebo chaldná tma,
prepojená s podsvetím veľkej matky

Chodidlá sú telefón,
pripájajúci sa k tomu, čo nevidieť,
až kým nezaznie psychické zvonenie

Na neznámom knoci je môj vnútorný hlas,
zložený z mozaiky potomkov a predkov

Počujeme sa?
Počujeme

Hlas v kozmickom mori zrkadiel
mi umožňuje pripraviť sa
na stretnutie tvárou v tvár

 

 

Dana Podracká was born in Banská Štiavnica in 1954. She studied psychology at Comenius University in Bratislava and worked as a psychologist and editor. Her poems have appeared in translation in various literary journals and anthologies. She has received the Ivan Krasko Prize for in 1981 and the Witold Hulewicz Prize in 2004.

Nina Varon was born 1974 in Bratislava and lives in Rochester. Her work appeared in literary journals in Slovakia and in Wales. She is also an author of bilingual poetry collection Básnické poviedky/Poetic stories (English version by Miriam Margala) published in Slovakia.