Poem, LONDON
May 10, 2024
There was a Will but There was No Way
by Kathryn Maris
It was a legal will but there was no way: the executor loathed the wife, for the executor was an ex of the deceased, and exes don't like being replaced.
The wife said hello. The executor said hello also, but in a way that wasn't very nice to the wife. 'How's the career?' she added.
The wife admitted there was no career: she had never gotten the prize.
The ex already knew the wife had not gotten the prize, and had no career, because the ex was both a winner and a judge of the prize.
The wife got the man but didn't get the prize. The ex got the prize but didn't get the man. Together they could have had everything.
The executor and the wife sifted through the dead man's papers, which included the prize.
The papers went to the Archive. The Archive sealed the papers for many years as per the conditions of the will.
When the papers emerged, so did the squabbles, for the papers revealed discord.
The biographers and the readers aligned themselves with one side or the other. A libretto was written, and the opera was entered for the prize.
note
- From The House with Only an Attic and a Basement, published by Penguin, 2018.
- Japanese translation by Rogan's which is an anonymous translation team.
為しても成らない
キャスリン・マリス
訳 Rogan’s
法に則った遺言はあったが為す術はなかった。遺言執行人は妻を呪った。というのも執行人は死んだ男の元カノだったのだ。別れた側からすれば、挿げ替えられるのはおもしろくない。
こんにちは、と妻が言った。こんにちは、と執行人も返した。だが、その言い方には毒があった。「お仕事のほうはいかが？」と執行人は付け加えた。
出世は無理ね、と妻は言った。賞をとったこともなかった。
元カノは妻が賞をとったことがないことも、出世できなかったこともとっくに知っていた。なぜなら賞をとったのも、選考委員を務めたのも元カノのほうだから。
男をとった妻に、賞はなかった。賞をとった元カノに、男はなかった。二人を足して二で割れば、なんでも手にいれることができたのに。
執行人と妻は死んだ男の書類をふたりで確認した。もちろん、そこには賞が含まれていた。
書類は公的機関に送られた。その機関は遺言の条項に従い、長期にわたって書類を厳重に保管し続けた。
書類がふたたび世に出た時、ひと悶着が起きた。なぜなら内輪もめも明るみに出てしまったから。
伝記作家や読者たちはどちらか一方の味方についた。台本が書かれ、そしてそのオペラは受賞候補の作品となった。
注
- The House with Only an Attic and a Basement, Penguin, 2018
- 翻訳を担当したRogan’sは、匿名の翻訳グループ。
Kathryn Maris
Kathryn Maris is originally from New York and has lived in London since 1999. Her previous collections are The Book of Jobs (Four Way Books, 2006) and God Loves You (Seren, 2013), and a selection of her poetry appeared alongside the work of Frederick Seidel and Sam Riviera in Penguin Modern Poets 5: Occasional Wild Parties (2017). Her poetry has been published widely, including in Granta, The Nation, The New Statesman, Poetry, The Best British Poetry 2015 (Salt) and The Forward Book of Poetry 2017 (Faber & Faber).
