Contempo- rary Slovenian poetry 2 - Ljudmila

the way I do.
Use hopeless flights
of tired pigeons
and this burnished stone,
about the only thing above water,
the way I do.
Use numb legs
on your way into the water,
and the fear there is no way out
the way I do.
Use my imminent death
the way I
use it:
just to hear our whispers
to each other,
preferably, using ordinary words.
I. Nigredo
Outside the big window
the crazed caretaker
is cutting off
little black paws.
Dismembered wolves,
scattered all around,
fertilize
the school garden.
I run away
so I won’t be noticed
behind the glass
by the merciless gardener.
9
III. Albedo
Translated by Ana Jelnikar
& Kelly Lenox Allan
The whiteness
of a frozen night.
A small skittish animal
rests
its fear.
My little red paw
lives in
an iron snare.
Moonlight
and three footprints
in the snow.
That way!