Poem
Brian Turner
The Baghdad Zoo
DE DIERENTUIN VAN BAGDAD
Een Noord-Irakese bruine beer verscheurde een manop een straathoek, sleepte hem door een steeg terwijl
geschokte toeschouwers riepen dat hij moest stoppen.
Er waren tanks die hun zware sporen rolden
langs het museum naar het Ministerie van Olie.
Eén boordschutter zag hoe een leeuw een paard opdreef.
Tot op hun skeletten afgekloofd, leken de giraffes
prehistorisch, onwerkelijk, hun nekken
te breekbaar, te sierlijk voor de eenentwintigste eeuw.
Dalmatische pelikanen en marmereenden
vlogen over, geschrokken van de rotorbladen
van landende blackhawk-helikopters.
Eén baviaan wist zelfs de stad uit te komen.
Ronddolend in de woestijn werd hij gevonden, verward
door de wind en het zand van de sikkelduinen.
© Vertaling: 2009, Jabik Veenbaas
The Baghdad Zoo
An Iraqi northern brown bear mauled a manon a streetcorner, dragging him down an alley
as shocked onlookers cried for it to stop.
There were tanks rolling their heavy tracks
past the museum and up to the Ministry of Oil.
One gunner watched a lion chase down a horse.
Eaten down to their skeletons, the giraffes
looked prehistoric, unreal, their necks
too fragile, too graceful for the 21st Century.
Dalmatian pelicans and marbled teals
flew over, frightened by the rotorwash
of blackhawk helicopters touching down.
One baboon even escaped from the city limits.
It was found wandering in the desert, confused
by the wind and the sand of the barchan dunes.
© 2005, Brian Turner
From: Here, Bullet
Publisher: Alice James Books, Farmington, ME
From: Here, Bullet
Publisher: Alice James Books, Farmington, ME
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Poems of Brian Turner
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The Baghdad Zoo
An Iraqi northern brown bear mauled a manon a streetcorner, dragging him down an alley
as shocked onlookers cried for it to stop.
There were tanks rolling their heavy tracks
past the museum and up to the Ministry of Oil.
One gunner watched a lion chase down a horse.
Eaten down to their skeletons, the giraffes
looked prehistoric, unreal, their necks
too fragile, too graceful for the 21st Century.
Dalmatian pelicans and marbled teals
flew over, frightened by the rotorwash
of blackhawk helicopters touching down.
One baboon even escaped from the city limits.
It was found wandering in the desert, confused
by the wind and the sand of the barchan dunes.
From: Here, Bullet
The Baghdad Zoo
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