Full Description
Lithuania's Tomas Venclova is one of Europe's greatest living poets. His work speaks with a moral depth exceptional in contemporary poetry. Venclova's poetry addresses the desolate landscape of the aftermath of totalitarianism, as well as the ethical constants that allow for hope and perseverance. "The Junction" brings together entirely new translations of his most recent work as well as a selection of poems from his 1997 volume "Winter Dialogue".
Contents
Tomas Venclova: The Labours of Poetry: Between Classicism and Ruins by Ellen Hinsey 10
THE JUNCTION (2005)
New England Harbour 19
The Émigré 20
A New Postcard from the City of K. 22
Dunes at Watermill 25
Arrival in Atlantis 29
For an Older Poet 30
Two Apocrypha 32
The Junction 35
After the Lecture 37
Užupis 41
Theseus Leaving Athens 42
On a Mountain Ridge Near Jordan 44
Discipline and Punish. A Visit to the Detention Centre IZ-45/1 48
From Landwehrkanal to Spree 50
Ormond Quay 53
Song of the Borderland 54
Homage to Shqiperia 56
Anno Domini 2002 58
La Baigneuse 60
On the Boulevard by Town Hall 62
A Valediction, Forbidding Mourning 63
Commentary 62
In the Lake Region 66
Limbo 67
He Who Turned Around at the Border 69
Antonio Vivaldi 71
Las Meninas 72
For R.K. 73
Landscape, Summer 2001 74
Verses for a Child's Birth 75
Pastoral 77
from WINTER DIALOGUE (1997)
A Poem About Memory 81
Winter Dialogue 82
'I was welcomed by twilight and cold' 85
To the Memory of a Poet. Variation 88
Nel Mezzo Del Cammin Di Nostra Vita 90
The Shield of Achilles 81
The Eleventh Canto 94
'We've been seized by the pull of the universe' 97
'Glimmer a smile, stand still, then take the path back home' 98
'All night, sleep was equivalent to time' 99
'Shoots of grass pierce one's face and hands' 100
'To the squares on our walls and floors' 101
'Desist, desist. The crumbling sentence dies' 102
An Attempt at Describing a Room 103
Sestina 104
Ode to a City 106
Two Poems About Love 109
'Although the well is bottomless and steep' 111
'In the indigent cities, it's time to leave friends behind us' 112
Ghetto 113
A Poem About Friends 114
Thanksgiving Day 117
Autumn in Copenhagen 119
Sheremetyevo, 1977 123
'Bit by bit, at the edge of the unforeseen land' 125
'I have learned to see in the dark' 126
A Museum in Hobart 128
'Before the middle of July, Paris' 131
Berlin Subway. Hallesches Tor 133
East Rock 134
Instruction 136
Pestel Street 139
In the Fire 142
'An enormous book begins to flap' 143
'Half a mile away, where the highways cross' 144
Tu, Felix Austria 145
'A projector flickers in the somewhat cramped hall' 150 ˇ
Henkus Hapenckus, In Memoriam 151
San Michele 153
The Member of the Landing Crew 154
A View from an Alley 156
Notes 157
Bibliography 163
The translators 168
