Alexander Mironov

by Alexander Mironov

Do not dream of living outside language,
even if the ground is so tongue – tied
that everything that falls to earth will neither
die, revive, nor stiffen in impersonal
obscurities — but reach out and extend
a senseless line through generations —
a nourishing chord between the flesh
and undead words — we are alive! —
sheer language wins us like a madhouse.
And there is no end to barrenness.

Translated from Russian by Aleksey Porvin and Tony Brinkley.