Tereza Riedlbauchová
Two Poems from Paris Notebook

translated from Czech by Stephan Delbos

I embrace death by choice
and poetry is my sole passion
You thought I would show you paradise
but I danced hell for you
And your pleasures aren’t my pleasures
but your pain is also mine
Because vanity
is my plain white dress

Nejraději objímám smrt
a poezie je má jediná vášeň
Mysleli jste že vám ukážu ráj
ale zatančila jsem vám peklo
A vaše radosti nejsou mou radostí
ale vaše bolest je i mou
To protože marnost
je můj bílý nezdobený šat

* * *

My dream was within reach
neither glass nor wall between us
I only had to hold out my hand

instead I carefully fastened
all the buttons on my jacket
and ran for my solitude

Můj sen byl nadosah
nebylo mezi námi sklo ani zeď
stačilo jen natáhnout ruku

místo toho jsem pečlivě zapnula
všechny knoflíky svého kabátku
a vyběhla za svou samotou

_ _

Tereza Riedlbauchová  is a poet, publisher and the deputy director of the Museum of Czech Literature. She is the founder of Literární salon, a publishing house which focuses on the work of beginning poets and has produced twenty-two titles since 2007. Her publications include the poetry collections Blue Apples (2000),  Great Biskupov Night  (2005),  Don Vitor Playing and Other Poems (2009),  Paris Notebook (2013) and the lyric poem The Image of the Weeping Virgin (2002).

Stephan Delbos grew up in Plymouth, MA, and currently lives in Prague. He edits the web journal B O D Y. His poetry, essays, and translations have been published recently in Fourteen Hills, The Istanbul Review, Ping Pong, Poetry Salzburg Review, and Zoland Poetry. His translation of the collection The Absolute Gravedigger, by Czech poet Vítezslav Nezval, is due this year from Twisted Spoon Press. The translations appearing in this issue are original to the 2013 collection Paris Notebook by Tereza Riedlbauchová, one of the leading young Czech poets. She has given permission for their appearance in Clarion.

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