Nada Marija Grošelj

Translated by Nada Marija Grošelj

1. WEBS / MREŽE

   

   

   ENGSLV

   The fragrance of cherry candy

   from a group of primary school children

   passing by – 

    

   a staircase to memory.

    

   The brain never forgets

   cherry,

   orange,

   lemon

   or even papaya-flavoured candy.

    

   The brain tucks in all those unimportant 

   traces,

   fleeting tastes,

   smells,

   surfaces,

   even small movements in space,

   to ambush you with behind a corner.

    

   Very early the brain cleverly weaves

   a thick web

   from coincidences,

   a web which will prove fatal

   for each individual – 

   till his death will he expound to himself and to others his webs.

   Translated by Nada Marija Grošelj

   Vonj po češnjevih bonbonih

   od skupine osnovnošolcev,

   ki gre mimo – 

    

   stopnice do spomina. 

    

   Možgani nikoli ne pozabijo

   češnjevih,

   pomarančnih,

   limoninih

   in celo bonbonov z okusom papaje.

    

   Možgani skrijejo vase vse te nepomembne 

   sledi,

   majhne okuse,

   vonje,

   površine,

   celo majhne premike v prostoru,

   da te lahko z njimi pričakajo za vogalom.

    

   Že zelo kmalu možgani bistroumno ustvarijo 

   gosto mrežo 

   iz naključij,

   ki bo za danega posameznika 

   usodna – 

   do smrti bo sebi in drugim razlagal svoje 

   mreže.

    

   Pogovor s stvarmi (Kulturni center Maribor, 2022)

2. JELLYFISH / MEDUZE

   

   

   ENGSLV

   Nobody dared into the water that afternoon.

    

   From the edge of the beach I watched 

   brownish jellyfish

   fiercely tossed by waves in the shallows.

    

   What a life!

   There and back, aimlessly.

   An external force steering your little transparent

   and empty body

   like a plastic bag.

   I know no emptier body.

   Where is your credo?

   Where is your own will?

   Why do you live at all?

    

   The impudent jellyfish taunted.

   Translated by Nada Marija Grošelj

   Tisto popoldne si nihče ni upal v vodo.

    

   Z roba obale sem opazovala 

   rjavkaste meduze,

   kako so jih valovi divje premetavali po plitvini.

    

   Kakšno življenje!

   Sem in tja, brez cilja.

   Zunanja sila usmerja tvoje malo prozorno in 

   prazno telo

   kot plastično vrečko.

   Bolj praznega telesa ne poznam.

   Kje je tvoj credo?

   Kje je tvoja lastna volja?

   Zakaj sploh živiš?

    

   So bile nesramne meduze.

    

   Pogovor s stvarmi (Kulturni center Maribor, 2022)

3. BEHIND THE EDGE OF LANGUAGE / ZA ROBOM JEZIKA

   

   

   ENGSLV

   Only this silence

   which ripples

   the water surface

   and behind the edge of language

   helplessly splashes

   against the fir trees

   guarding the forest

   from the mundane,

   only

   this silence

   is my tool.

   Translated by Nada Marija Grošelj

   Samo ta tišina,

   ki rahlo naguba

   vodno površino

   in za robom jezika

   nemočno pljuskne

   ob smreke,

   ki varujejo gozd

   pred vsakdanjostjo,

   samo ta tišina

   je moje orodje.

    

   Pogovor s stvarmi (Kulturni center Maribor, 2022)

4. ON A WALK / NA SPREHODU

   

   

   ENGSLV

   In the forest lives the rhino

   and the dinosaur,

    

   but what stirs me 

   more than that

    

   is a family of grey mice

   living beneath tree roots.

    

   Their greyness

   passes from generation to generation

    

   and the greyest of all

   is Mother Mouse.

   Translated by Nada Marija Grošelj

   V gozdu sta nosorog

   in dinozaver,

    

   a bolj od tega

   me vznemirja

    

   družina sivih mišk,

   ki živi pod koreninami.

    

   Njihova sivina

   gre iz roda v rod

    

   in najbolj siva od vseh

   je mama miš.

    

   Pogovor s stvarmi (Kulturni center Maribor, 2022)

5. SPLENDOUR OF GRASSES / RAZKOŠJE TRAV

   

   

   ENGSLV

   This is as good as it gets,

   Everything is already written down,

    

   is the silent thought

   of a dandelion clock.

    

   And yet

   this is a season

   of the splendour of grasses,

   of brides and

   of weddings

   (just before mowing).

    

   The little white head

   Is dreaming the wrong dream,

   Time is rolling over the fields

   (you cannot save the world,

   The only one you can save is you).

   Translated by Nada Marija Grošelj

   Nikoli ne bo bolje,

   vse je že zapisano,

    

   je tiha misel

   regratove lučke.

    

   Pa vendar

   je to obdobje

   razkošja trav,

   nevest in 

   porok

   (tik pred 

   košnjo).

    

   Mala bela glava 

   sanja napačne sanje,

   čas valovi čez polje

   (ne moreš rešiti sveta,

   rešiš lahko samo sebe).

    

   Pogovor s stvarmi (Kulturni center Maribor, 2022)

6. A FRAGMENT / DROBEC

   

   

   ENGSLV

   Do you remember?

   Amid the luscious green

   there flashed

   only here and there

   a fragment of red.

   A strawberry.

   Strawberries.

   Hidden

   and early,

   doomed to fall out of grace

   like that

   childhood. 

   Translated by Nada Marija Grošelj

   Se spomniš?

   Med bohotno zeleno

   se je le tu in tam

   zabliskal drobec rdeče.

   Jagoda.

   Jagode.

   Skrite

   in zgodnje,

   obsojene na nemilost

   kot tisto

   otroštvo.

    

   Pogovor s stvarmi (Kulturni center Maribor, 2022)