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10.16.12
Four Poems
Translated with the author.


        

Discus hit in the golden field.
The tent endures downpours of wine. 


 



        

Ghetto,
the sound defining the pitch of color.
Lightning,
sorting out thunder. 


 



Manage Your Field

Spit on the sun.
Wipe your forehead.

Make tired the hungry ones.
Feed them.

The entrails start to tremble.
The leg trembles.

The trees chain trade.
The felloes, all

askew, the celery with
the golden edge. Again, horse

swam in, drowned.
Juice is always.

Herd is always.
There’s always a Boer. 


 



are you the one

are you the one who stuck the knife in his own belly
i’m the one who stuck the knife in his own belly
what did you think while doing it
while doing it i thought i have to stick the knife in my belly
was the edge well honed
the point is the point the edge is not that important
the point decides if the knife takes it nicely
how comes the idea just a knife should be used
idea is good better than the others
only it’s hard to rip up one’s belly
much more difficult than to pierce it
why
the knife feels good doesn’t want to move any farther
what do you have now on that spot
a cavity 

Tomaž Šalamun (1941–2014) published more than fifty books of poetry in Slovenian during his lifetime. He is not only recognized as a leading figure of the Slovenian poetic avant-garde but is also considered one of the leading contemporary poets of Central Europe. His honors include the Preseren Fund Prize, the Jenko Prize, Laurel Wreath, Poetry and People Prize, Njegoš Prize, Europäsche Prize, Pushcart Prize, a visiting Fulbright to Columbia University, and a fellowship to the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa. 
Michael Thomas Taren was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. His poems have been published in HTMLGIANT, The Claudius App, and Fence, and are forthcoming in Bestoned. He spent nine months in Slovenia on a Fulbright Scholarship (2010–2011). His manuscripts Puberty and Where is Michael were finalists for the Fence Modern Poets Series in 2009 and 2010, respectively.