by Constantin Severin
- a solo nijuin renku -
English version by Liviu Martinescu
waves covered in wind
in our blood the salt of the sea
is seeking the shore
autumn clouds scattered
by viola d'amore
insatiably drinking in
the image of those conches
lurking amongst barren poplars
devious ways in
a square black against white
stuck between word and shadow
time
a salamander
I would twirl your red hair
in yellow rings
through rolls of thick fog
to meet the axolotl
bearing the face of my beloved
afloat away from our own selves
among unknown engravers
in the foreign harbour
anemones
sink the eternal sky
in the long forgotten bell
crickets have taken shelter
melting wax
covers the books
of metamorphosis
smoky chrysalides
rise from among vowels
the shape of the larva
slowly yields the contour
of your absence
my palm feels the vortex
of your frozen name
a scream snowed under
albatrosses with myrtle in their beaks
shattering the moon
how changed the last
water dwellings
a cluster of birches
from one being into another
music will pass
it's only the sound of time
that entices grass to germinate
amongst plum blossoms
the hourglass sends up its sand
up/down to the last grain
deep into lilac woods
fire devouring fire
- Share this Poem:
ABOUT THE POET ~
Constantin Severin was born on the 8th of February 1952, in Baia de Arama, Romania., He is a writer, member of the Romanian Writers’ Union, represented by Your Agent Agency, Oslo and a visual artist, member of the International Art Group, 3rd Paradigm., He is the theorist and promoter of archetypal expressionism and of post –literature. Honorary citizen of his birthtown, Baia de Aramă, Mehedinţi, Romania, in May 2011., Poetry Works:, ‘’The Sunday of Things Real” (poetry), Junimea Publishing House, Iasi, Romania, 1984;, ”Wall and Neutrino” (poetry, bilingual edition-Romanian/English, translated by Liviu Martinescu), Vlasie Publishing House, Pitesti, Romania, 1994; the poem won The Bucovina Cultural Foundation Award;, ”Wall and Neutrino. The Poet in New York”, Minerva Publishing House, London, 1997; translation by Liviu Martinescu;, ”Improvisations on armonic key” (poetry), Axa Publishing House, Botosani, Romania, 1998;, ”The Axolotl” (poetry), Masina de Scris Publishing House, Bucharest, 1998; the first renga (renku) book in the Romanian literature, bilingual edition-Romanian/English, translation by Liviu Martinescu; the Bucovina Cultural Foundation Prize, 1999;, ”The Alchemical City” (selected poems), Dacia Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 2002; the Bucovina Cultural Foundation Prize, 2003;, ”Improvisations on armonic key” (poetry, Opera Omnia), Tipo Moldova publishing house, Iasi, 2011. More info:, http://constantinseverin.wordpress.com/
Last updated September 25, 2011