by Constantin Severin
- a solo nijuin renku -
English version by Liviu Martinescu
through the opaque porthole
seeps the ghost of the autumn
from an old haiku
the rotten gate between the worlds
cut in two by the propeller
faraway the pond
the hoar glittering on roofs
a replica of the dead
only the magic bird
hovering over the Tibetan book
all the eyes scanning
the list of those drowned
on the computer
disguised in my eyelashes
I draw near your hot footsole
mammoth bones
mirroring the chrysanthemum
I touch you with
waves wash off inscriptions
in the thick lead frames
raindrops freezing
on the gypsies' tent
in signs whithout number
on the si string the bow
resonating with the frost
listening at dawn
the splash of silence
a swallow
unseen wings I feel
on the spot she once slept
watching her even in my sleep
I seek the constellation
that brings us together
the harmony of spheres
Rosa Canina aflame in your hair
the world's corolla
the skylark's song
intersecting the moon
people on the street
treading on the guitar's slipcover
not a soul is coming
eaten through by woodworms
the grandfather - clock bursts into pieces
a blade of grass in passing
through the forgotten coat
holes still smoking
on the paper tiger
the very first snowdrops
under the May cart
the bridge turns into a howl
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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