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.