Poem, LONDON
Jan 28, 2022
Déjà Vu
by Astrid Alben
Poet has made this poem several times using blue Pelikan ink
then stopped remembering he made this before sits alongside
my peripheral vision in the way that particular toy I craved
as a child who has discovered the key of love I no longer see
what that was nevertheless was as important as the vanished link
between spontaneous utterance & the lapse of self lays down
the pen pushes back my chair whistles along Coolhurst Street
wearing bumper car shoes sucking on a hard boiled sweet.
note
translated by Akiko Yamanaka
デジャヴ
アストリッド・アルベン
訳 山中章子
詩人はこの詩をペリカンの青インクで何度も書いた
それから前にも書いたと思い出して止めた わたしの目のはしに
並んですわる彼は子どもの頃ねだったあのおもちゃそっくり
あのとき見つけた愛のカギも今はもう見えない
あれが何であれ大切だった ふとしたことばとつまずく自分を
つなぐ消えたリンクと同じくらい 詩人はペンを置いて
わたしのイスを押し戻してクールハースト通りでホイッスル鳴らす
バンパーカーみたいなシューズでハードボイルドなキャンディをなめながら
注
crossing linesコーディネーターとプランナーによる作品解説はこちらから。
【#1 crossing lines ポッドキャスト】アストリッド・アルベン「デジャブ」
Astrid Alben
Astrid Alben is a poet, editor and translator. She is the author of Ai! Ai! Pianissimo (Arc, 2011), Plainspeak (Prototype, 2019) and the forthcoming Little Dead Rabbit (Prototype, 2022). Her poems, essays and reviews are featured in a wide range of publications, including in the Times Literary Supplement, Granta and BBC Radio 4 Four-Thought.
Alben is the editor of three art/science anthologies published by Lars Müller Publications and was awarded a Wellcome Trust Fellowship in 2014 for her work across the arts and sciences with PARS. She is Chair of Poetry London and lives in London.
www.astridalben.com / @AstridAlben
