Stewart
A tin of hard candies—
the lid covered in silk and gold,
the picture of a string of pearls—
full of ashes on the office sill.
A coworker gracefully flakes her cigarette—
scheming to become a blond today.
I try to imagine how her little head would look
in a royal banquet hall, rolling along the mosaic
floor—
As if it were an apple that had slipped from the hands
of a ham-fisted child who is too full to eat.
Rimas Uzgiris Translation of “Stewart” by Indrė Valantinaitė
Stewart
Skardinė ledinukų dėžutė
ant dangtelio šilkais ir auksu,
perlų vėriniais išdabintu atvaizdu,
pilna nuorūkų ant kontoros palangės.
Bendradarbė dailiai nukrato pelenus –
šiandien planuoja iš brunetės atvirsti blondine.
Bandau įsivaizduoti, kaip atrodytų galvelė,
besiridenanti karališkosios menės mozaikinėmis grindimis.
It negrabiam, persisotinusiam vaikui žaidžiant
iš rankų netyčia būtų išsprūdęs obuolys.
Indrė Valantinaitė, Pasakos apie meilę ir kitus žvėris, Lietuvos rašytojų sąjungos
leidykla: Vilnius (2011)
Indrė Valantinaitė is a fresh voice in Lithuanian poetry. Her debut collection Žuvim ir lelijom (For fish and lilies) won the 2006 First Book Contest of the Lithuanian Union of Writers. Her second book Pasakos apie meilę ir kitus žvėris (Stories about love and other animals) was published in 2011 and won the 2012 Young Jotvingian Prize at the Druskininkai Poetic Fall Festival; this is the most prestigious award for Lithuanian poets under 35. In addition to being a poet, Valantinaitė is also a renowned singer. She studied at Vilnius University and The Vilnius Academy of Arts. She lives in Vilnius.
Photo: R.Ščerbausko nuotr. / Indrė Valantinaitė
Rimas Uzgiris‘ poetry has been published in Atlanta Review, 322 Review, Lituanus, Prime Number Magazine, The Poetry Porch, inter|rupture, Umbrella, Literary Laundry, riverbabble, Quiddity, The Four Quarters Magazine, The Drunken Boat, Druskininkai Poetic Fall 2012 (anthology), and is forthcoming in Barrow Street, Hudson Review, The Lilliput Review, The Literary Bohemian, Per Contra, Presa Magazine and The Waiting Room Reader: Stories to Keep You Company (anthology). His translations have appeared in The Massachusetts Review, Spork Press, Modern Poetry in Translation, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Two Lines Online, The Brooklyner, Lituanus, The Drunken Boat, Druskininkai Poetic Fall 2012, and are forthcoming in AGNI and The Iowa Review. His book reviews have been published in HTML Giant, Rumpus, Words Without Borders and Post Road. His fiction appeared in Writer’s Abroad: Foreign Encounters Anthology. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and received an MFA in creative writing from Rutgers-Newark University, where he studied poetry with Rigoberto Gonzalez and Rachel Hadas, and fiction with Tayari Jones. He received a Fulbright Scholar Grant to teach at Vilnius University, Lithuania in 2013.
