Poem
Maria Barnas
JUST TO MAKE SURE
The streets are stirring all the same. Interrupt me.Although we wormed our way out of the city along the Thames
in tremendous curves we were prepared for everything.
Feel free to leaf through the storeys, fold a dog-ear
in the shaft of a lift. Make thick leaden drops out of metal
and plunge in nosedives. Pitfalls.
Capital letters hardly keep up with the bombs.
Mistake me.
They are sitting like sandwiches in Tesco carrier bags
where I – here we go.
We were ready for it we were prepared for everything
and we stayed eerily quiet.
We had planned the pits well before
and meticulously scraped ruins of streets and houses
out of stone. Sliced a shell out of square just to make sure
and hacked stairs out of underground steps in the opposite direction.
Someone doubted it but when the time came it began.
The bombs landed in their place.
© Translation: 2008, Donald Gardner
VOOR DE ZEKERHEID
VOOR DE ZEKERHEID
De straten roeren zich niettemin. Onderbreek me.Hoewel we ons langs de Thames in ontzettende bochten de stad
uit wrongen waren we op alles voorbereid.
Blader gerust de verdiepingen door een ezelsoor
in de schacht van een lift. Maak dikke loden druppels van metaal
en lonten stort in duikvluchten. Vallen.
Hoofdletters houden de bommen met moeite bij.
Verspreek me.
Ze zitten als sandwiches in tassen van Tesco
waar ik - daar gaan we.
We waren er klaar voor we waren op alles voorbereid
en we hielden ons eerily stil.
We hebben ruim van tevoren de kuilen gegraven
en nauwkeurig ruïnes van straten en huizen geschraapt
uit steen. Voor de zekerheid een schelp geschaafd uit plein
en uit trap van metro hakten we treden in tegengestelde richting.
Iemand twijfelde eraan maar toen het tijd was begon het.
De bommen vielen op hun plaats.
© 2007, Maria Barnas
From: Er staat een stad op
Publisher: De Arbeiderspers, Amsterdam
From: Er staat een stad op
Publisher: De Arbeiderspers, Amsterdam
Poems
Poems of Maria Barnas
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JUST TO MAKE SURE
The streets are stirring all the same. Interrupt me.Although we wormed our way out of the city along the Thames
in tremendous curves we were prepared for everything.
Feel free to leaf through the storeys, fold a dog-ear
in the shaft of a lift. Make thick leaden drops out of metal
and plunge in nosedives. Pitfalls.
Capital letters hardly keep up with the bombs.
Mistake me.
They are sitting like sandwiches in Tesco carrier bags
where I – here we go.
We were ready for it we were prepared for everything
and we stayed eerily quiet.
We had planned the pits well before
and meticulously scraped ruins of streets and houses
out of stone. Sliced a shell out of square just to make sure
and hacked stairs out of underground steps in the opposite direction.
Someone doubted it but when the time came it began.
The bombs landed in their place.
© 2008, Donald Gardner
From: Er staat een stad op
From: Er staat een stad op
JUST TO MAKE SURE
The streets are stirring all the same. Interrupt me.Although we wormed our way out of the city along the Thames
in tremendous curves we were prepared for everything.
Feel free to leaf through the storeys, fold a dog-ear
in the shaft of a lift. Make thick leaden drops out of metal
and plunge in nosedives. Pitfalls.
Capital letters hardly keep up with the bombs.
Mistake me.
They are sitting like sandwiches in Tesco carrier bags
where I – here we go.
We were ready for it we were prepared for everything
and we stayed eerily quiet.
We had planned the pits well before
and meticulously scraped ruins of streets and houses
out of stone. Sliced a shell out of square just to make sure
and hacked stairs out of underground steps in the opposite direction.
Someone doubted it but when the time came it began.
The bombs landed in their place.
© 2008, Donald Gardner
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