FOOD LINE
Translated by Jack Hirschman and Aggelos Sakis
An apple-core.
Someone was sitting here
biting an apple.
Then he disappeared. The same day
that History recorded three
deaths in the center of Athens.
Someone else at another
spot left his cigarette butt
before he disappeared too.
History only records:
apple-cores, cadavers, ashes.
I set the table for one.
For myself. Turned the teevee on.
Sat down. In order to save capitalism
sacrifices are required from all of us.
The phone rang. You asked
if you could come.
You could. I turned off the teevee.
Got up. Capitalism
is hemorrhaging and is dying. I said.
I changed the tablecloth.
I set the table for two.
***
It smells like Sunday roast
in my balcony. I stretch
my hands and find
the stove turned off,
the plates cold. I forgot again
to cook. I feel full
just with the aroma, even though
nobody’s asked me to share
the chicken and potatoes
split in three. It wasn’t by chance, I figure,
that I’d served in a battalion of undesirables.
***
Between death
and life
a broccoli salad
remains for me.
***
With barley-broth
and garlic
the pyramids were built.
Man needs
nothing more
in order to leave
monuments behind.
***
From verb to existence
or from existence to verb?
Whatever the answer may be
to the Morelli dilemma,
there’s only one truth:
slowly, slowly and methodically
I’ll be sinking.
δίγλωσση έκδοση «Sotiris Pastakas – Food line», Forepaw Press, 2014
Η μετάφραση στα αγγλικά έγινε από τους Jack Hirschman & Angelos Sakkis
Πρόλογος & σημείωμα οπισθόφυλλου: Jack Hirschman
Πίνακας εξωφύλλου: Agneta Falk Hirschman
