Poem
Branko Čegec
THE MASKED PORTRAITS OF A. WARHOL
1.
First there was October and the hair flew brutally to the sky,
the dogs and hedgehogs started to fight
among the pylons of the Brooklyn Bridge; and then the blacks
from the subway started to sing.
There were dead and injured people, the papers
plastered with boldfaced headlines
and my stuffed snapshots.
Later in the afternoon, fireworks cheered pale faces.
Between tin cans and the falls, the stereo and coca-cola
there glided only the sound of the screen freed of pictures.
There was no rain, there were no anesthetics:
the phantom of freedom cruised the unreachable blueness.
2.
California is far away. I rarely went there.
A glance at silicone breasts is the only stimulating thing.
The vignettes of the artificial world are melancholic. I put them
in a box, turned on the light, and stared at the dry summer night:
the riders of waves finished rotating, the guys
from the beach, crushed singles, the whole epoch of filigree plastic.
Sometimes my eyes hurt from all this. I overflow
in a masked cloth then and unfurl a text, textile, telepathy . . .
After all this, a beautiful and sad girl
in me bids me good night.
1992
© Translation: 2004, Mario Suško
Maskirani portreti A. Warhola
Maskirani portreti A. Warhola
1.
Prvo je bio listopad i kosa je brutalno odletjela u nebo;
zatim su se potukli psi i ježevi između stupova
Brooklynskog mosta; zatim su propjevali
crnci iz podzemne željeznice.
Bilo je mrtvih i ranjenih, novine su bile
prekrivene glomaznim naslovim
i mojim prepariranim fotografijama.
Kasno popodne vatromet je razvedrio blijeda lica.
Između konzervi i vodopada, između sterea i coca-cole
klizio je samo šum ekrana oslobođenog slike.
Nije bilo kiše, nije bilo anestetika:
fantom slobode krstario je nedostižnim plavetnilom.
2.
Kalifornija je daleko. Rijetko sam odlazio. Pogled
na silikonske grudi jedino je što stimulira.
Sjetne su vinjete umjetnoga svijeta. Složio sam ih u
kutiju, uključio struju i buljio dugo u suhu ljetnu noć:
odvrtjeli su se jahači valova, momci s obale,
karambolirani singlovi, cijela epoha filigranske plastike.
Ponekad od svega zabole oči. Tada se razlijem
u maskirnu tkaninu i razvijem tekst, tekstil, telepatiju . . .
Lijepa i tužna djevojka u meni,
nakon svega, poželi mi laku noć.
1992
© 1992, Branko Čegec
From: Ekrani praznine
Publisher: Naklada MD, Zagreb
From: Ekrani praznine
Publisher: Naklada MD, Zagreb
Poems
Poems of Branko Čegec
Close
THE MASKED PORTRAITS OF A. WARHOL
1.
First there was October and the hair flew brutally to the sky,
the dogs and hedgehogs started to fight
among the pylons of the Brooklyn Bridge; and then the blacks
from the subway started to sing.
There were dead and injured people, the papers
plastered with boldfaced headlines
and my stuffed snapshots.
Later in the afternoon, fireworks cheered pale faces.
Between tin cans and the falls, the stereo and coca-cola
there glided only the sound of the screen freed of pictures.
There was no rain, there were no anesthetics:
the phantom of freedom cruised the unreachable blueness.
2.
California is far away. I rarely went there.
A glance at silicone breasts is the only stimulating thing.
The vignettes of the artificial world are melancholic. I put them
in a box, turned on the light, and stared at the dry summer night:
the riders of waves finished rotating, the guys
from the beach, crushed singles, the whole epoch of filigree plastic.
Sometimes my eyes hurt from all this. I overflow
in a masked cloth then and unfurl a text, textile, telepathy . . .
After all this, a beautiful and sad girl
in me bids me good night.
1992
© 2004, Mario Suško
From: Ekrani praznine
From: Ekrani praznine
THE MASKED PORTRAITS OF A. WARHOL
1.
First there was October and the hair flew brutally to the sky,
the dogs and hedgehogs started to fight
among the pylons of the Brooklyn Bridge; and then the blacks
from the subway started to sing.
There were dead and injured people, the papers
plastered with boldfaced headlines
and my stuffed snapshots.
Later in the afternoon, fireworks cheered pale faces.
Between tin cans and the falls, the stereo and coca-cola
there glided only the sound of the screen freed of pictures.
There was no rain, there were no anesthetics:
the phantom of freedom cruised the unreachable blueness.
2.
California is far away. I rarely went there.
A glance at silicone breasts is the only stimulating thing.
The vignettes of the artificial world are melancholic. I put them
in a box, turned on the light, and stared at the dry summer night:
the riders of waves finished rotating, the guys
from the beach, crushed singles, the whole epoch of filigree plastic.
Sometimes my eyes hurt from all this. I overflow
in a masked cloth then and unfurl a text, textile, telepathy . . .
After all this, a beautiful and sad girl
in me bids me good night.
1992
© 2004, Mario Suško
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