The muffled sound of the fruit as it carefully breaks from a branch, amid the incessant chant of the silence, deep in the woods. 1908 Return to table of contents for Issue 3 Fall 2010
Osip Mandelshtam
OSIP MANDELSHTAM was a Russian poet and essayist who lived through the Russian Revolution and was arrested by the Stalinist regime twice, eventually dying in prison. He is generally considered one of the greatest Russian poets of the 20th century.
A MAN ON FOOT by Osip Mandelshtam (translated from the Russian by Alistair Noon)
To M.L. Lozinskii Whenever I’m near mysterious mountain tops, there’s a fear I sense but can’t defeat. Watching the skies, I’m content with the swallows, and love the way a flight of bells will peal. As if some man walking out of antiquity who can hear the growth of snow, I’m crossing a chasm on […]
[AGAINST THE PALE-BLUE ENAMEL] by Osip Mandelshtam (translated from the Russian by Alistair Noon)
Against the pale-blue enamel that April makes conceivable, the branches of the birch-trees stand and gradually turn into evening. Their pattern is sharp and complete, the stiffened gauze is fine, like a drawing that someone has neatly traced out on a plate of china. Some merciful artist has performed that design on the glassy heavens, […]
UNTITLED by Osip Mandelshtam (translated from the Russian by Tony Brinkley and Raina Kostova)
In the raw, moist forest, with a freezing measure, an impoverished light-beam sows the light-world. I am lingering—like the gray bird in my heart—incurring sorrow. What do I do with this wounded bird? The dying firmament fell silent— from its clouded tower, someone had taken the bell— and there height stands, mute and orphaned, like […]
BLACK EARTH by Osip Mandelshtam (translated from the Russian by Tony Brinkley and Raina Kostova)
Every mound—cultivated, black— every furrow combed with air— ground crumbled, figured as a chorus, the damp ground is my soil and freedom . . . Spring mornings, tilled—black to blue—unarmed, peaceful labor— a thousand ploughed-up rumors— in its radius unbounded. And, nevertheless, the ground—mistaken thunder—unmoved if you plead, even pounding the ground metrics—a decaying flute […]
THE BIRTH OF A SMILE by Osip Mandelshtam (translated from Russian by Tony Brinkley and Raina Kostova)
A child’s first smile, its mountain- bitterness and sweetness, its ends— not easily—extend and nurse the ocean’s anarchy. He is well—invincibly—his soothed lips toy with names and stitch a rainbow suture, his unlimited awareness of appearances. Stirred, the subsoil paws— the snail mouth flows and hastens— tuning lightly in amazement, in my eyes this Atlas […]
Contributor Bios for Issue 3 Fall 2010
Issue 3 Fall 2010 JOY AL-SOFI currently teaches English in Hong Kong. She has worked in the high-tech industry and before that practiced law in both Oregon and Texas. Her work includes poetry, fiction and non-fiction and she has been published in the USA and Hong Kong. She has done theater reviews for community radio […]
MAYDAY Magazine: Issue 3 Fall 2010
FEATURED ARTIST Robert MacCready UNTITLED STATEMENT BY THE ARTIST notes on life and work TRANSLATIONS epigrams by Catullus, translated from the Latin by David Macey 1 : : 85 fiction by Ólafur Gunnarsson, translated from the Icelandic by Ólafur Gunnarsson and Steven Meyers THE THAW poetry by Jan Kochanowski and Adam Mickiewicz, translated from […]