/

THE PARTS OF HER BODY HUDDLED TOGETHER LIKE A PACK OF GLOSSY DOGS
Daniel Bănulescu

Then on the sixth day a good wind sprang up from the Holy of Holy’s wings
That filled her skin with sweet womanly curves

Then the parts of her body huddled together
Like a pack of glossy dogs held together on a leash in one hand

And then the parts of her body – as she bent over the insects in the grass –
Appeared to the insects in the grass as holy skies

~

translated by Adam J. Sorkin and Lidia Vianu

 
 
Daniel Banulescu

Daniel Bănulescu, one of Romania’s most prominent authors today, writes from an ironic self-vaunting pose, as many of his titles suggest—for instance, the poetry books The Federal Republic of Daniel Bănulescu (2000), and It’s Good to be Daniel Bănulescu (selected poems, 2010, where these poems derive). His novels are provocative and fantastical: I Kiss Your Ass, Adored Leader! (1994)—rewritten as Flee from Your Revolting and Hideous Life into My Book(2009), The Seven Kings of the City of Bucharest (1998), and The Best Novel of All Time (2008). 

Adam Sorkin

Adam J. Sorkin is a translator of contemporary Romanian poetry whose work has won the Poetry Society (U.K.) Translation Prize, the Kenneth Rexroth Translation Prize, the Ioan Flora Poetry Translation Prize, and the Poesis Translation Prize among other awards. His most recent books include A Sharp Double-Edged Luxury Object by Rodica Draghincescu, The Starry Womb by Mihail Gălățanu and The Book of Anger by Marta Petreu.

Lidia Vianu

Lidia Vianu, a poet, novelist, critic, and translator, is Professor of English at the University of Bucharest, where she serves as Director of CTITC (the Centre for the Translation and Interpretation of the Contemporary Text). She has been Fulbright lecturer at University of California Berkeley and SUNY Binghamton. Vianu has published numbers of books of literary criticism, two books of interviews, a novel, translations and three poetry collections.