This is a family photo, with a no te on the back that says, Autumn of 1986. The two sitting over on the blanket are my mom and dad, and the two chortling girls of kindergarten age chasing each other on the lawn behind them are me and my sister. Once again, they’d taken us […]
Translation
Until Our Mouths Hurt by Aida Moradi Ahani
The Craft of Knives by José Pedro Leite
(Translated from Portuguese by Richard Simas)
In the middle of winter, I discovered an invincible summer inside me. -Albert Camus (from Part III of “The Invention of Summer”) My idea […]
M. by Sofia Ciriello
(Translated from Italian by Scott Belluz)
There was a crack in the wooden floor underneath the living room table. In fact, it had always been there. The split was barely noticeable, widening in the middle to form an oval, almost like an almond. Sara had looked at it many times but that day was different: the light touched it differently so […]
So Much More by Marco Angelini
(Translated from Italian by Scott Belluz)
Lara is over at my apartment. I made her linguine with homemade pesto and fried zucchini blossoms because I know she likes them. We ate lunch in the kitchen then moved into the living room which is also my bedroom. It’s big so everything fits. I showed her the window frame I’d painted a creamy […]
The Snow Kept Falling by Stanislav Stratiev
(Translated from Russian by Risa Shargel)
Translator’s Note: Under communist rule, the government strongly discouraged celebration of religious holidays. In a pragmatic nod to the difficulty of stopping Christmas celebrations altogether, the government used a carrot-and-stick approach to associate the celebrations with the New Year’s holiday instead. Much as the church had earlier absorbed pagan traditions such as survakane into Christmas, […]
[The nightingale is plucking out its feathers.] by Mirza Sakit
(Translated from Azerbaijani by Murad Jalilov and Kevin Rabas)
The nightingale is plucking out its feathers. So what if it pulls them all out? I bought you a flower. You said it had faded. It fades. So what? Are you done judging me or with your jealousy tests? It’s just two kisses on the cheek. So what? At night, you set two shot glasses […]
Until the End of Time by Grzegorz Wróblewski
(Translated from Polish by Peter Burzynski)
Mr. Z still had many things to do. He always woke up early and prepared his mind to get them done properly. He looked around the room, examining the wall and ceiling; checked the cacti. They never wanted for water. Mr. Z always took good care of his home. Next, he dusted the lamp that […]
Android and an Anecdote by Grzegorz Wróblewski
(Translated from Polish by Peter Burzynski)
Mr. Z realized what he was doing: —It sufficed that the program be changed or that only incorrect programming be added—Mr. Z was comforted by the unprogrammed android. Mr. Z stroked it until it turned pink, until it had something that resembled a shell of a human face. —They filled me with unnecessary information and […]
from Silence at Last by Karl-Heinz Ott
(Translated from German by Peter Woltemade)
I would have liked to flee to Marie, who would have driven this person from the city with a single brief appearance. But even the moon with its pocked face wanted, it seemed to me during this night, to mock me from a distance and to proclaim to me that I, too—as if in the […]
Letters of the Alphabet by Tatiana Neshumova
(Translated from Russian by J. Kates)
How long have they called me to themselves These incorruptible black beasts. There was a time when they opened for me Not their jaws, but a door. They called out to me, not as a friend, But as a shepherd, a laborer, To lend a hand. And I learned little By little to be equal […]
