2021 INTERNATIONAL POETRY READING

ABOUT THIS YEAR’S POETRY READINGS This April, in celebration of National Poetry Month, the Princeton Festival presented nine internationally renowned poets in video readings of their poems on the theme of “Love and Loss.” We thank all of the poets for the opportunity to experience their beautiful work. They are:

• Vladimir Baboshin – Russia* • Allison Adelle Hedge Coke - USA • Mariela Cordero – Venezuela* • Đặng Thân - Vietnam • Sabrina De Canio – Italy* • Mari Kashiwagi – Japan* • Peihang “Marshall” Li – China* • Iskra Peneva - Serbia • Lucilla Trapazzo – Switzerland*

Six of these poets, indicated by *, also translated excerpts from Mari Kashiwagi’s evocative poetry collection Butterfly into their own languages for a separate reading during the Festival’s regular June season. We are proud that Ms. Kashiwagi originally previewed her Butterfly poems in a reading during the 2018 Festival season. This booklet includes texts for the poems read in April and for the translated Butterfly poems. You may see the original video readings on http://youtube.com/princetonfestival.

2

ABOUT THE POETS

Vladimir Baboshin / Russia Vladimir Baboshin is a poet, translator, publisher and editor-in-chief of the literary almanac Nevskaya Formula, editor of the international department of the journal Nevsky Almanac, organizer of international creative festivals and art exhibitions.

Allison Adelle Hedge Coke / United States Allison Adelle Hedge Coke worked fields, factories – waters. Honors include the AWP George Garrett Award, Texas Institute of Letters, Inouye Distinguished Chair in Democratic Ideals at the University of Hawai‘i, Fulbright in Montenegro, First Jade Female Poetry Festival Sihui China Excellent Foreign Poet, US Library of Congress Witter Bynner Fellow.

Mariela Cordero / Venezuela Mariela Cordero is a poet, writer, translator and visual artist. Among her awards: Second Prize for Poetry, Concorso Letterario Internazionale Bilingüe Tracceperlameta Edizioni, Italy (2015); First Prize in the II Iberoamerican Poetry Contest Euler Granda, Ecuador (2015) First Place in International Poetry Contest #AniversarioPoetasHispanos (2016).

Đặng Thân / Vietnam Poet, fiction writer, critic and essayist, Đặng Thân has been invited to numerous international poetry festivals. In 2019 his poetry book OM (Other Moments) was published in the USA and quickly translated into Chinese, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Bengali and Greek. Sabrina De Canio / Italy Sabrina De Canio is an award-winning, internationally recognized poet, literature teacher, translator, and codirector of Saint Christopher’s Poetry Museum, the only one of its kind in the world.

3

ABOUT THE POETS

Mari Kashiwagi / Japan Mari Kashiwagi is a Japanese poet and art curator. She received the Gendaishi Techo Award in 1995. She has been invited to read at the Struga Poetry Evenings (Macedonia), InterLese (Germany), and The Princeton Festival (USA). Peihang “Marshall” Li / China Born in 2000, Peihang Li is a student at University of California, Berkeley and a member of the Chinese Poetry Institute. He is an active participant in international poetry events. In 2015, he published Peihang’s Poems, a collection of his work in Chinese.

Iskra Peneva / Serbia Iskra Peneva is a mathematician, poet, translator, and journalist who lives and works in Belgrade. Her poetry has been translated into more than a dozen languages, and has appeared in anthologies of Serbian and Macedonian literature. Lucilla Trapazzo / Switzerland Poetry editor of MockUp Magazine (Italy), Lucilla Trapazzo collaborates with art and cultural associations in organizing events and festivals. Her activities range among poetry, theater, installations, translations, and literary criticism.

4

VLADIMIR BABOSHIN После Шторма Опустились на Город прозрачные сумерки. Море мурлычет огромною кошкой. Зажигаются звёзды вдоль небесной реки, Сверкают, как будто янтарные крошки. Северный шторм отгремел канонадой, Волны упрятал в пучине морской, В узлы завязал металл променада, Насмехаясь над тщетностью воли людской. Берег балтийский изъеден волнами, За буйство стихии посильная плата Янтарь на песке остаётся слезами Блистать, в пламенеющем солнце закатном. В нём лет миллионы навечно застыли, Напомнить живущим, чтоб счастливы были.

After the Storm Transparent twilight on the City descended. The sea is purring like a huge cat. Stars light up along the heavenly river They sparkle like amber crumbs. The northern storm died down like a cannonade The Storm hid the waves in the depths of the sea, Tied in knots the metal of the promenade He laughed at the futility of human will. The Baltic coast is corroded by waves, For the riot of the elements, a feasible price Amber in the sand remains tears To shine in the flaming setting sun. Millions of years forever frozen in amber, Remind living people to be happy today.

5

ALLISON ADELLE HEDGE COKE Barrio Tricentenario, Plaza de Banderas

Wading footsteps of murdered in the barrio Juan calls home we sing our songs, tell stories, cry a bit when conquistador reenactors dance in color.

Botero blasted away refilled with forty sculpted doves, in the city where from here I love you deeply and from there it was but a night.

Butterflies fill streets verse winging ways fluttered by faces middling dark hours leveling light.

Here you held my hand, urged I follow, let Bogotá beckon while we played our voices for victims recalled by lovers, grandmas, niños still swimming Escobar wakes.

6

MARIELA CORDERO Tu cuerpo o un país lejano. Los mapas tan frágiles como una tregua, están hechos de átomos dispersos. Para llegar a tus linderos y rozar tus poros hay que imantarlos con disparos florecidos, unidos dibujaran las zonas quemantes y los atajos del azar. La brújula lúbrica me expulsará al centro de la guerra ungida del amor. Arribaré para perderme entre la sacralidad y el torbellino, la espiral antigua del deseo sigue devorando pulsaciones. El corazón es una flecha y un blanco. Tu cuerpo es un país lejano Your body or a distant country. The maps as a fragile truce, are made of scattered atoms. To reach your boundaries and touch your skin I must discover The burning zones and the shortcuts of the random. The lubricious compass will expel me to the center of the anointed war of love. I will arrive to lose myself between the sacredness and the whirlwind. The ancient spiral of desire still devouring pulsations. The heart is an arrow and a target.

Your body is a distant country

7

ĐẶNG THÂN Mắt Ai? Anh không dám nhìn vào đôi mắt em, Nhưng có thể nào tránh hai vì sao ấy; Khi nhấp nháy muôn ánh nhìn run rẩy, Những cánh hồng nhún nhẩy giữa trời cao... Anh không dám nhìn vào đôi mắt sao, Nhưng giờ đây, muốn nhìn nào thấy nữa; Đáy tim xé đau, lũ tràn dập lửa, Bông hồng trời... đã rũ, chẳng hồi sinh!

Whose Eyes? I dared not tempt your eyes But could not help staring into those; When yours flashed I trembled In front of me A heavenly rose. My heart thuds with a painful whinny As those… forever closed!

8

SABRINA DE CANIO

Pane

Vorrei tenere insieme tutti i pezzi come il raspo fa con gli acini,

e non perdere né gli anni né gli amici, né gli amanti a lungo amati,

continuare a sentire il profumo del bucato di mia madre

e del latte a colazione. Ma questa vita ad ogni morso

è un pane che si sbriciola, se l’appoggi un attimo

qualcuno che sparecchia se lo porta via.

Bread

I wish I could keep all the pieces together as a stalk does its grapes,

and lose neither years nor friends, nor long-cherished lovers,

and keep on smelling the fragrance of my mother’s newly-washed laundry

and the aroma of her warm breakfast milk. But this life is like bread

that breaks into crumbs at every bite; if you put it down for a moment

whoever is clearing the table will whisk it away.

9

SABRINA DE CANIO

Viaggio

dedicata alla memoria di Pippa Bacca

Bianco

oliva, rosa, rosso, verde, marrone, nero.

Bianco giglio di seta

cenere che lava. Siamo latte

nelle porcellane del servizio buono

sacre ad ogni partenza. Siamo l’ago che ricuce e il filo che si riannoda

fruscianti come libri nel bianco che ci spegne.

Journey

in memory of Pippa Bacca

White olive, pink, red,

green, brown, black. White

silken lily cleansing ash. We are milk

in the best china sacred ant intact

at each new fresh start. We are the needle that mends

and the thread that binds rustling like pages

in the white that turns us off.

10

MARI KASHIWAGI 蝶／いない [Butterfly/No more] みえないもののための みえない橋 である 蝶 ＊

いのちでは

追うことのできない

蝶

＊

蝶々

いない

に

翅をつけて

＊

11

蝶たちが

川をわたってゆく

川がももいろにそまる

その時間に

今日

ねむりにつけなかった

蝶たちだけの

たいせつな

川を

わたってゆく ＊ いない の 蝶が いる の 蝶を恋う ＊

いないときにも

蝶のうごきは

世界のどこかに

12

しまわれている

＊

蝶であること

の

そとに

そっと

ひらく

蝶 ＊

蝶が

舞う

いない

の世界が

そよそよ匂う ＊

空中はいつも奏でられている いないほうの蝶のために ＊

まだいない春を

蝶たちは

抱きしめている

13

MARI KASHIWAGI Butterfly/No more Butterfly is an invisible bridge for the invisible * The living can not go all the way with Butterfly * Butterfly donning wings upon being no more * Butterflies are crossing the river at the moment when it wears peach

14

they cross the fateful river open only to butterflies who could not attain sleep today * Butterfly who is no more yearns for a butterfly who is here * Even while she is not here Butterfly’s kinetic energy is tucked away somewhere in the universe * Butterfly silently opens outside of

15

being a butterfly * Butterfly dances the universe of being no more sways in soothing scent * The open air is always being strummed for the butterflies who are no more * Butterflies are lovingly hugging spring not yet here

16

PEIHANG “MARSHALL” LI

讯号

镜中，我们见证时间之沙

堆成⾯庞，五官间喋喋不休的阴影

在肩上，摆放好端庄的陶瓶，收藏着

那些失去回声的古⽼幻想

和旧⽇宫殿⾥不被⼈扬起的灰尘

我们向镜中⾛去，像深⼊辽阔的海⾯

繁星不过是⼀张张驶向房梁的⽩帆

⼀扇扇闪烁的窗⼦，碎成玻璃和银

我们曾在波⾕间晃动的倒影

已消散成⼀道不连贯的戒令

于是——我们静静地望着内⼼的荒原

解开那匹缰住的马和夜的雄性

等到两⽿之间的黎明轻声响动

那些断裂成⽴体的光阴

便是向往⽇道别的摩尔斯讯号

signals

inside the mirror, we witness the sand of time drifting in faces, and the gossipy shadows between the features on the shoulder, placed a dignified earthen jar with care to store those old fantasies that have lost their echo and the unraised dust forgotten in yesterday ’s palace

we walk into the mirror, as beyond the expanse of the sea surface the stars are nothing but white sails heading towards the beam when the shimmering windows shatter into glass and silver our reflection that swayed between the troughs dissipated into an incoherent commandment

so - we look quietly into the barren garden within our hearts untying the reined horse and night ’s masculinity waiting till the dawn between two ears softly chimes the time fracturing into solids becomes morse signals bidding farewell to the former days

17

ISKRA PENEVA

Rastanak Svetuge Sveta sakrila sam U sebi Plač moj je nedovoljan Da pomiri Nepodnošljivi teret Tišina je savršena Grom nad jezerom U stvari je leptirov treptaj Suština koja objašnjava Nastajanje noći i dana U kojima su nebo i kiše Manji od moje tuge

Leaving I hid all the sorrows of the world In myself My cry is not enough To reconcile An unbearable burden The silence is perfect The lightening over the lake Is a butterfly’s blink The essence that explains The creation of the night and day In which the sky and the rain Are smaller than my sadness

18

LUCILLA TRAPAZZO Où tu veux si tu veux quand tu veux Si rincorrono i ricordi stanotte e si confondono. Nella foto in bianco e nero stai ridendo, alle tue spalle il mare. E sei tu. Senza tempo. Avevamo negli occhi le nuvole e uno squarcio di sole. (tra i capelli l’illusione di vetro che il tempo fosse nostro) Avevamo la notte e il mare e un dolore vestito di blu e il rosso carminio di risa e berretti e una rosa recisa in un vaso. - Je te promets le ciel - cantavi di basso ai miei piedi ribelli. Io sono ancora corpo, starnuto, sono fame, sono sete. Sono ancora fonte e urgente nostalgia di un divino. Spalanco i balconi alla notte e ti immagino luce (ma ha davvero bisogno di un corpo l’amore?) C’è un ramo fiorito al centro della mano all’incrocio delle linee del destino. - Où tu veux si tu veux quand tu veux -

Where you want, if you want, when you want Memories follow each other tonight and they blend. In the black and white photo you are laughing. At your back, the sea. And it’s you. Without time. We had clouds in our eyes and a shard of sun. (in our hair the illusion made of glass that time was ours) we had the night and the sea and a grief dressed in blue and the carmine red of laughs and caps and a rose in a vase

- Je te promets le ciel- you sang to my rebel feet I am still body, sneeze, I am hunger and thirst I am still fountain and urgent longing for a divine. I open wide the balcony to the night and I think of you as light (is it really necessary a body to love?) there is a branch blossoming in the center of my hand at the crossing of the line of fate. - Où tu veux si tu veux quand tu veux –

19

Excerpts from Mari Kashiwagi’s poetry collection Butterfly

Spring cradles butterflies not yet here

In the air Butterfly a wondrous wisdom

Butterfly

captivates moonlight

Butterfly is time lavishly blooming on the edge of time

Butterfly is time lavishly blooming on the edge of time

Butterfly

so airy unable to bear the burden of knowing

Butterfly moves on collapsing the space between hearing and not hearing

20

Rain

listens for a butterfly

Rainbow shimmers a memory of Butterfly having been here

Flying across a deep valley Butterfly comes to wonder if she is the valley

Sky’s

reincarnation as a rainbow Butterfly

To become a butterfly

To become another homeland